A 21-year-old female patient presented with a single asymptomatic pigmented patch over her left thigh of one year duration. Examination showed an irregular brownish and nodular lesion measuring 0.7 x 0.6 cm. There was no tenderness, bleeding on touch or induration of the base of the lesion.Gross examination: Specimen consisted of an elliptical wide excision skin biopsy with a central raised brownish papulonodular lesion measuring 0.7x0.6 cm. Cut section showed dilated channels filled with blood, within the lesion [Table/ Fig-1a&b].
Case 2A 17-year-old boy came with the chief complaints of swelling over the back since eight months. There was no history of bleeding, pain or discharge from the swelling. On examination it measured around 1 x 1 cm and was non-tender with firm consistency.Gross examination: Specimen consisted of a small bit of skin biopsy measuring 1 x 0.7 x 0.5 cm. External surface showed a raised brownish papulonodular lesion. Cut section showed haemorrhagic areas in the lesion.In both these cases, there was no regional lymphadenopathy. There were no other similar lesions in the body. Their past, personal and family history did not yield any significant information. With the provisional clinical diagnoses of nevus, haemangioma, pyogenic granuloma and melanoma, excision biopsies were performed under local anaesthesia and sent for histopathological examination. Angiokeratomas are rare benign vascular skin lesions arising in isolation or in groups of multiple lesions, as solitary cutaneous forms or generalized systemic forms. They are ectasias of dermal capillaries with an acanthotic and hyperkeratotic epidermis. They can occur in both healthy individuals and in those with underlying systemic disease due to inherited enzyme deficiency or other acquired predisposing factors. The identification and reporting of these lesions is important as patients with these lesions should be evaluated to rule out underlying pathogenic conditions. We report two rare cases of isolated solitary cutaneous angiokeratoma occurring in two patients.Microscopy of both these lesions showed dilated and ectatic vascular channels lined by flattened endothelial cells, filled with blood in dermis closely abutting epidermis. The covering epidermis showed hyperplasia acanthosis, papillomatosis and hyperkeratosis. There was no atypia, increased melanocytes, viral inclusions or ulcerations of epidermis Case 1: [ Thus, a final histopathological diagnosis of angiokeratoma was offered. In both the cases there were no additional similar lesions on the body. Associated symptoms and syndromes were ruled out. Hence these cases were typed as solitary angiokeratoma.
DisCussionThe accurate prevalence of angiokeratoma is difficult to calculate as these lesions are asymptomatic. The prevalence rises from 0.6% in first and second decades to 16.6% in the 7 th decade of life. Males are commonly affected than females. It is frequently encountered in Caucasian and Japanese individuals [1].