Kohlmeier-Degos disease

PubMed, the Internet portal of biomedical and life sciences literature, indexed an interesting article, entitled ”Benign course of malignant atrophic papulosis (Kohlmeier-Degos disease): lack of vessel occlusion as good prognostic sign?” (J Dtsch Dermatol Ges. 2003 May;1(5):374-7). Authors are Wachter T, Rose C, Brocker EB at al., from Universitats-Hautklinik Wuzburg. Morbus Kohlmeier-Degos is a rare systemic disease characterized by pathognomonic cutaneous lesions with typical histology. The authors report the case of a 22-year-old woman with a benign course of this disease and discuss therapeutical options. The patient presented with whitish papules on neck, trunk and extremities that slowly developed within seven months. Examination of the skin revealed about 20 papules of 2-5 mm size. The patient was started a therapy of acetyl salicylic acid. Over the course of 24 months single new lesions appeared at a reduced frequency. Apart from the malignant form of Morbus Kohlmeier-Degos there exists a benign course which may be successfully controlled with anti-platelet therapy. The authors speculate that the lack of vessel occlusion in the histology could be a hallmark of a benign form of this rare disease. To access the full abstract of the article, click here.