No abstract

Cutaneous reactions to tattoos are not uncommon and various histologic patterns have been reported, including lichenoid, granulomatous, eczematous, and pseudolymphomatous reactions. Such patterns may develop with highly variable delay after the tattooing procedure. We report three strikingly similar cases of a fast-occurring, tattoo-induced, cutaneous reaction strictly restricted to the red parts of the tattoos in two cases and displaying an unusual histologic pattern, i.e. pseudoepitheliomatous hyperplasia. Clinical differential diagnosis of this rare condition includes viral warts, keratoacanthoma, and verrucous carcinoma. It may be difficult to rule out the last two diagnoses and making the diagnosis usually requires full excision of the lesion, comprehensive histologic analysis, and careful follow-up.

Collagenous gastritis is an exceptional entity with eight cases documented to date characterized by the presence of a thick subepithelial collagen band associated with an inflammatory infiltrate of the gastric mucosa. The aim of our study was to describe the clinical and histologic characteristics of six new cases of collagenous gastritis. All cases showed a subepithelial collagen band that averaged 30 microm but often measured up to 120 microm. This finding was almost always accompanied by mixed chronic inflammation in the lamina propria and by surface epithelial damage of varying severity. Our study seems to delineate two subsets in patients with collagenous gastritis: 1) collagenous gastritis occurring in children and young adults presenting with severe anemia, a nodular pattern on endoscopy, and a disease limited to the gastric mucosa without evidence of colonic involvement, and 2) collagenous gastritis associated with collagenous colitis occurring in adult patients presenting with chronic watery diarrhea. These findings highlight the fact that subepithelial collagen deposition may be a generalized disease affecting the entire gastrointestinal tract.