A Case of Ichthyosiform Atrophy of the Skin with Reticulum Cell Sarcoma

Abstract

A forty-three-year-old woman entered the Keio University hospital because of fever, induration of left anterior chest wall and left axillary lymphadenopathy. She suffered from tuberculous empyema 20 years ago. A lymph-node biopsy showed pleomorphic reticulum cell sarcoma or Hodgkin's sarcoma. Autopsy findings revealed pleomorphic reticulum cell sarcoma. Main lesions were contact with caseous pleuritis without another superficial lymphadenopathy, and roentgenographically it was very difficult to discern tumor shadow. A pleural biopsy was unsuccessful in yielding sufficient tissue for diagnosis. Afterwards X-ray films of the chest showed irregular border of the ribs, and infiltration of reticulum cell sarcoma to the left lung was suspected.
Ichthyosiform scale appeared almost all skin except face and head. Disturbance of sweating due to skin eruptions might have been the cause of a high fever. There were not skin eruptions till the appearance of a high fever and lymphadnopathy, and no skin diseases are known in her family. So ichthyosiform scale was regarded as acquired ichthyosis. Although Dijk described the ocurrence of ichthyosiform atrophy of the skin in patients with malignant internal diseases as Hodgkin's disease, a brief report seems warranted in view of the rarity of this association.