Seronegative necrolytic acral erythema: A report of two cases and literature review

Necrolytic acral erythema (NAE) is a newly described entity, seen in patients infected with hepatitis C virus. It is characterized by its distinguishing acral distribution, psoriasiform skin eruption and histological features. Its etiopathogenesis is not fully understood though hypo amino academia, hyperglucagonemia and zinc deficiency are considered as probable causes. In 1996, El Darouti and Abu el Ela first described this entity in seven Egyptian patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV). Since then, several small studies and cases have been reported around the world. Nevertheless, it may occur independently without HCV association as a few cases have been reported recently. We report two seronegative cases of NAE, which responded dramatically with oral zinc therapy. This suggests that NAE could be an isolated clinical subset.

Necrolytic migratory ulceration

Endocrine tumors of the gastroenteropancreatic system associated with specific skin manifestations are rare. We report a 53-year-old female who presented with migratory annular and arcuate ulcers on her limbs. Histopathology was similar to necrolytic erythema family which includes necrolytic migratory erythema (NME). Though initial CT scans were normal, follow up scans revealed multiple mass lesions in the tail of pancreas. Her skin lesions responded to oral zinc sulphate and monthly injections of octreotide. Prior to planned FNAC from the mass lesion, patient developed altered sensorium and succumbed to the disease. This case report seems to differ from NME clinically, due to unique finding of deep migrating ulcers which heal with scarring. 'Necrolytic migratory ulceration' thus appears to be a new paraneoplastic manifestation, secondary to pancreatic malignancy.

Seronegative necrolytic acral erythema: a distinct clinical subset?

A patient was referred to us with asymptomatic, erythematous, nonitchy, scaly lesions present bilaterally on the dorsa of his feet and toes since the last 2 months. Both the legs had pitting edema as well. There were hyperkeratosis, focal parakeratosis, acanthosis and scattered spongiosis in the epidermis, and proliferation of capillaries with perivascular infiltration of lymphomononuclear cells in the dermis. There was no serological evidence of hepatitis C virus. Laboratory investigations revealed hypoalbuminemia and low-normal serum zinc. On clinicopathological correlation, we made a diagnosis of necrolytic acral erythema (NAE). The lesions responded dramatically to oral zinc sulfate and topical clobetasol propionate within 3 weeks with disappearance of edema and scaling and only a minimal residual erythema. This is the first reported case of NAE from Eastern India. NAE with negative serology for hepatitis C may be viewed as a distinct subset of the condition that had been originally described.