The cutaneous manifestations of metastatic malignant melanoma.

Cutaneous metastases are common sequelae of primary malignant melanoma. Because patients with melanoma are examined frequently after diagnosis, it is important that dermatologists are aware of the range of findings that may represent metastatic disease. Many case reports and a few retrospective series have been published detailing the wide variety of clinical presentations of cutaneous metastatic melanoma.

Iatrogenic immunosuppression and cutaneous malignancy.

Patients with autoimmune and inflammatory conditions often receive long-term immunosuppressive therapy. Some of the largest patient populations with iatrogenic immunosuppression include patients who have received solid-organ transplants or who have rheumatoid arthritis or psoriasis. Although treatments improve patient outcomes, individuals with immunosuppression subsequently may have an increased risk of skin cancer, including squamous cell carcinoma, basal cell carcinoma, and malignant melanoma.

Pediatric erythromelalgia: a retrospective review of 32 cases evaluated at Mayo Clinic over a 37-year period.

Background: Erythromelalgia has not been well characterized in the pediatric population.

Objective: We sought to review our experience of erythromelalgia in the pediatric age group.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective review of patients 18 years of age and younger with a diagnosis of erythromelalgia who were examined at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, from 1970 to 2007.

Complications of cutaneous surgery in patients taking clopidogrel-containing anticoagulation.

Background: Most anticoagulants are not associated with increased risk of severe complications during cutaneous surgery, but no data exist on clopidogrel.

Objective: We sought to determine frequency and severity of perioperative complications in patients taking clopidogrel-containing anticoagulation.

Methods: This was a retrospective review of medical records of patients undergoing Mohs micrographic surgery at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, while taking clopidogrel-containing anticoagulation between 2004 and 2008, compared with control subjects taking aspirin monotherapy or no anticoagulants.

Allergic contact dermatitis from exotic woods: importance of patch-testing with patient-provided samples.

Exotic woods from tropical and subtropical regions (eg, from South America, south Asia, and Africa) frequently are used occupationally and recreationally by woodworkers and hobbyists. These exotic woods more commonly provoke irritant contact dermatitis reactions, but they also can provoke allergic contact dermatitis reactions. We report three patients seen at Mayo Clinic (Rochester, MN) with allergic contact dermatitis reactions to exotic woods.

Current procedural terminology coding for Mohs micrographic surgery.

Accurate surgical current procedural terminology (CPT) coding allows for proper reimbursement, decreases the possibility of being audited, and decreases the likelihood of inadvertently misrepresenting a claim. The CPT codes describe the type of services provided to a patient. CPT modifiers provide information to insurance payers to assure that the provider is reimbursed correctly.

Superficial granulomatous pyoderma: a case in an 11-year-old girl and review of the literature.

Superficial granulomatous pyoderma is a rare entity thought to be a variant of pyoderma gangrenosum and is often mistaken for classic pyoderma gangrenosum. Superficial granulomatous pyoderma has mainly been described in adults. We describe a case of Superficial granulomatous pyoderma in an 11-year-old girl and present a review of the literature.

Segmental cutaneous piloleiomyomata.

A 60-year-old white man seen in consultation for "chronic zoster" presented with a 30-year history of persistent, painful cutaneous lesions on his right flank. His pain was episodic and exacerbated by physical touch and emotional stress. He denied lesion sensitivity to cold or heat.

Folliculotropic mycosis fungoides: single-center study and systematic review.

Objectives: To clarify clinicopathologic features and reconcile discrepancies in previous studies of folliculotropic mycosis fungoides (FMF).

Design: A single-center retrospective clinicopathologic study and a systematic review of FMF.

Setting: Tertiary referral center in the midwestern United States.

Meyerson's naevus: a clinical and histopathological study of 11 cases.

We undertook a clinical and histopathological analysis of patients presenting with Meyerson's naevi. Eleven patients with the characteristic histological features of a Meyerson's naevus were identified over a 5-year period. Diagnostic criteria included epidermal spongiosis and a dermal inflammatory infiltrate associated with a banal junctional or compound naevus.

Family history as a risk factor for herpes zoster: a case-control study.

Objective: To assess risk factors for herpes zoster beyond age and immunosuppression, especially the association with a family history of herpes zoster, since a preventative herpes zoster and postherpetic neuralgia vaccine is now available.

Design: We undertook a case-control study of herpes zoster, which represents reactivation of latent varicella zoster virus residing in dorsal root ganglia following primary infection, involving 504 patients and 523 controls. Interviews were conducted by trained medical investigators using a structured questionnaire.

Amantadine-induced livedo reticularis: a report of two cases.

In the last several years, amantadine has been increasingly prescribed for akinesia in Parkinson's disease and to combat fatigue associated with multiple sclerosis. Amantadine is a well-known medication involved in drug-induced livedo reticularis (LR), yet remains under-reported in the English literature. We describe 2 patients with amantadine livedo reticularis: one patient with multiple sclerosis had, previous to this eruption, tolerated 4 years of amantadine therapy without adverse reactions and another patient with Parkinson's disease who developed LR 1 month after starting amantadine.