Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Marissa Heller.
A 34-year-old man presented with a 6-month history of hypopigmented macules that were interspersed with blanching erythematous macules on the trunk, upper extremities, and lower extremities. Bier spots are small, hypopigmented macules that are usually found on the arms and legs of young adults. The intervening skin may seem erythematous but blanches with pressure so that the hypopigmented macules disappear. This is a benign vascular anomaly.
A 42-year-old man with a 2-year history of left posterior uveitis and recurrent oral aphthous ulcers presented for evaluation of recurrent, erythematous, subcutaneous, tender nodules on his lower extremities. A biopsy specimen of the nodules showed a medium-sized-vessel vasculitis with a mild and moderate inflammatory cell infiltrate in the septae and lobules of the subcutaneous adipose tissue. These changes were consistent with cutaneous polyarteritis nodosa. Behçet disease is a multisystem inflammatory disorder that includes recurrent oral aphthous ulcers, and at least two of the following features: recurrent genital ulcers, eye lesions, skin lesions, and a positive pathergy test. Behçet disease and cutaneous polyarteritis nodosa have rarely been described in conjunction, and the suggestion has been raised that cutaneous polyarteritis-nodosa-like lesions may actually be a cutaneous marker of Behçet disease.