CASE REPORT   

Giornale Italiano di Dermatologia e Venereologia 1998 December;133(6):439-42

Copyright © 1998 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: Italian

Extensive cutaneous manifestations in refractory anemia with excess of myeloblasts (RAEM)

Bertani E., Candiani F., Guizzardi M., Pozzi R., Carabelli A.

Ospedale Sant’Antonio Abate - Gallarate (Varese), Divisione di Dermatologia e Malattie Sessualmente Trasmesse

Refractory anemia with excess of myeloblasts (RAEM) is a preleukemic myelodysplastic syndrome characterized by chronic anemia, granulocytopenia, thrombocytopenia, morphological and functional anomalies of erythrocytes, granulocytes and platelets, frequently associated with a low percentage of circulating blasts. Different types of cutaneous lesions can occour in patients with RAEM. These are usually classified in specific and non specific cutaneous manifestations. The early diagnosis of cutaneous signs, particulary of specific lesions, is important because these can be a sign of the leukemic transformation of myelodysplasia and predict a poor prognosis. The extensive cutaneous lesions occurred in a young male affected by RAEM are described. These manifestations, diagnosed as non-specific neutrophilic dermatosis, developed together with the leukemic evolution of hematological syndrome and assume a clearly poor prognostic value.