760 Correspondence
In renal graft recipients, the incidence of porokeratosis
varies between 0.34 and 10.68%.
1
Disseminated superficial
porokeratosis or punctuate porokeratosis are prevalent forms
in organ-transplant recipients, but giant porokeratosis is very
rare. Systemic immunosuppression is a well-documented
trigger in genetically predisposed skin. In the patients here
reported, immunosuppressive regimens included corticoids,
cyclosporine, azathioprine, and tacrolimus. There is no
evidence to suggest that any of the commonly used immuno-
suppressive drugs is more likely to induce the development of
porokeratosis than another. Complete regression has been
reported after discontinuation of immunosuppressive
treatment.
2
One of the patients had chronic HCV infection, a
condition also found associated with porokeratosis.
Our two patients developed hyperkeratotic lesions on the
porokeratosis plaques. The first patient had a squamous cell
carcinoma that was totally excised. In some cases, the
porokeratosis lesions may undergo malignant transformation
to Bowen’s disease, squamous cell carcinoma,
3
basal cell car-
cinoma (more rarely), or melanoma. The risk of malignant
degeneration increases with the size of the lesion and the
patient’s age. Our patient was older than 60 years and had a
large (6 × 6 cm) porokeratosis lesion. The second patient
developed a verrucous lesion. Warty nodules on an annular
plaque in a renal transplant recipient have been reported, which
were concordant with viral warts, as in our case.
4
Although
HPV testing gave negative results, the fact that HPV type 6 was
detected in the first patient supports the suspicion that HPV may
be involved in the appearance of superimposed hyperkeratotic
lesion on porokeratosis in immunosuppressed patients.
María Pérez-Crespo, MD
Isabel Betlloch
Ana Lucas-Costa
José Bañuls-Roca
María Niveiro de Jaime
Javier Mataix
Department of Dermatology and Department of Pathology,
Hospital General Universitario de Alicante, Alicante, Spain
Conflicts of interest: Not declared.
Funding: None.
References
1 Herranz P, Pizarro A, De Lucas R, et al. High incidence of
porokeratosis in renal transplant recipients. Br J Dermatol
1997; 136: 176 – 179.
2 Kanitakis J, Euvrard S, Faure M, et al. Porokeratosis and
immunosuppression. Eur J Dermatol 1998; 8: 459 – 465.
3 Lin JH, Hsu MM, Sheu HM, et al. Coexistence of three
variants of porokeratosis with multiple squamous cell
carcinomas arising from lesions of giant hyperkeratotic
porokeratosis. J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol 2006; 20:
621 – 623.
4 Theng CT, Yosipovitch G. Warty nodules on an annular
plaque in a renal transplant recipient. Arch Dermatol 2004;
140: 121 – 126.
Correspondence
Atypical petechial rash of the lower extremities due to
Parvovirus B19 infection
Patients with Parvo B19 infection usually undergo a subclinical
course but sometimes suffer non specific symptoms like fever,
arthralgias and myalgias. Parvo B19 is also considered respon-
sible for “papular purpuric gloves and socks syndrome” (PPGSS).
Recently, another clinical entity named “acropetechial syn-
drome” was described. In this case, the typical PPGSS syndrome
is combined with perioral involvement.
We report a case of a 71 year-old-lady who presented with
generalized arthralgias and purpuric rash (Fig. 1) of the lower
extremities from the hip joints down to the ankles sparing the
Figure 2 (a) Plaque of porokeratosis on the dorsal aspect of the
left hand with a hyperkeratotic tumor in one of the margins.
(b) Papillomatous and hyperkeratotic epidermis with cytopathic
changes in some keratinocytes and subcorneal erythrocytes,
consistent with a viral wart (H&E, ×40)
International Journal of Dermatology 2008, 47, 760–762 © 2008 The International Society of Dermatology