Pityriasis rotunda. A cutaneous marker of hepatocellular carcinoma in South African blacks

Skin diseases described in Japan 2004. In Japan beschriebene Dermatosen 2004

During the last century of modern dermatology, more than 30 skin diseases have been described first by physicians from Japan. Many of those conditions were disorders of pigmentation and keratinization, which are quite common in Oriental patients. Since the late 1940s, a number of skin diseases first reported in Japan have gained attention internationally among them being Kimura disease, hypomelanosis of Ito, Kawasaki disease, adult T-cell leukemia/ lymphoma, eosinophilic pustular folliculitis, prurigo pigmentosa, and Ofuji's papuloerythroderma. In this article, we review skin diseases that were first established as distinct entities in Japan, in order to familiarize readers of the Western literature with these conditions.

Pityriasis rotunda as a cutaneous marker of hepatocellular carcinoma: a comparison with its prevalence in other diseases

In an attempt to substantiate the claim that pityriasis rotunda may be a useful cutaneous marker of hepatocellular carcinoma in South African Blacks, the prevalence of the rash in 63 unselected South African Blacks with this tumour was compared to that in 63 matched patients with active tuberculosis, 63 with other malignant tumours, and 63 with various forms of chronic benign hepatic disease. The prevalence of pityriasis rotunda in hepatocellular carcinoma was 15.9%, which was appreciably greater (P = 0.0005) than the overall prevalence of the rash (2.6%) in the controls. The prevalence was 4.8% for tuberculosis (P = 0.038), 0% for other malignant diseases (P = 0.0007), and 3.2% for chronic benign hepatic disease (P = 0.015). We conclude that the presence of pityriasis rotunda is a useful pointer to the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma in South African Blacks.