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Query: UMLS:C0018133 (graft-versus-host disease)
 18,032 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Hyperpigmentation is a well-recognized feature of cutaneous graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), and is usually restricted to sites where lichenoid or sclerodermiform lesions have occurred. Since 1975, two of 745 patients treated by allogeneic bone marrow transplantation in our institution have developed diffuse melanoderma which differed considerably from the classic presentations. They both developed acute GVHD, then lichen planus-like chronic lesions and diffuse melanoderma. Histology of biopsies of the pigmented skin showed intense pigment deposition in the basal and suprabasal layers, and in dermal macrophages. On split-dopa, melanocyte counts were 98 and 93 per field, respectively. Electron microscopy showed melanocytes protruding into the dermis, and dark melanosomes in all epidermal layers and in macrophages. These findings were suggestive of post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation. In bone marrow recipients, de novo melanoderma is a rare event which could represent a feature of cutaneous GVHD in pigmented subjects.
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PMID:Histochemical and ultrastructural study of diffuse melanoderma after bone marrow transplantation. 874 50

The spectrum of clinical and histopathologic features associated with chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is broad, with recognized variants simulating scleroderma, lichen sclerosus, eosinophilic fasciitis, and de novo diffuse melanoderma. We report a case of a patient with multiple myeloma who presented approximately 1 year after his allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation with lesions of chronic lichenoid GVHD that harbored features of hypertrophic lupus erythematosus (LE) and that was initially mistaken for a superficial well-differentiated squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). However, in 4 years of follow-up, the patient failed to develop any evidence of cutaneous or systemic LE, actinic damage, or SCC, and the lesions cleared with topical and systemic treatments appropriate for chronic GVHD. For proper interpretation of the histologic findings of GVHD, it is important for the dermatopathologist to be aware of unusual manifestations. Knowledge of the occurrence of hypertrophic LE and familiarity with its histologic features is also important to avoid an erroneous diagnosis of SCC in immunosuppressed patients.
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PMID:Chronic cutaneous graft-versus-host disease simulating hypertrophic lupus erythematosus--a case report of a new morphologic variant of graft-versus-host disease. 2230 31