Crohn's Disease Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Crohn's Disease, including details on symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, causes, medication.

Eruptive tufted angiomas in a patient with Crohn's disease.

Al-Za'abi AM, Ghazarian D, Greenberg GR, Shaw JC

Department of Pathology, University of Toronto, Toronto M5T 2S8, Canada.

Angioblastoma is a rare, benign vascular tumour composed of undifferentiated mesenchymal cells with a tendency to form lumina. This entity was first described by Nakagawa in 1949 as angioblastoma, and Wilson Jones was the first to use the term "tufted angioma" in 1976. Tufted angiomas usually occur in infancy and spread slowly. This report describes lesions from the right side of the forehead, forearms, and thighs of a 24 year old man with a four year history of Crohn's disease, who was receiving infliximab in addition to long standing azathioprine and ciprofloxacillin. He developed numerous small itchy erythematous vascular appearing papules, which on histological examination resembled tufted angiomas, showing the classic "cannon ball" appearance. The lesions regressed within three months. This case may represent an eruptive acquired tufted angioma in which immunosuppression or drug induced modification of angiogenesis played a role in its development and regression. One previous case of eruptive tufted angioma has been reported in an immunosuppressed patient.

Published 28 January 2005 in J Clin Pathol, 58(2): 214-6.
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