Dermatologic Manifestations of Bacillary Angiomatosis Workup
- Author: Robert A Schwartz, MD, MPH; Chief Editor: William D James, MD more...
Imaging Studies
- Chest radiography may reveal pulmonary parenchymal nodules, which may have either well-defined or poorly defined borders, with no region of the lung consistently favored.
- Striking contrast enhancement of pulmonary nodules with computed tomography scanning or angiography is often evident.
- Radiography is recommended for detecting the typical lytic bone lesions, which usually manifest as focal bone pain. These lesions are sometimes only localized to the area where a subcutaneous lesion is present and can be asymptomatic.
Other Tests
An immunoglobulin M–specific enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for the detection of an early antibody response to B henselae has been developed that discriminates between B henselae– positive and B henselae –negative patient samples with impressive sensitivity and specificity values, described at 100% and 97.1%, respectively.[14]
Polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based identification of Bartonella may provide a simple and rapid method of diagnosis to the species level.[15]
Histologic Findings
The overlying epidermis may demonstrate atrophy, ulceration, or, at times, pseudoepitheliomatous hyperplasia.[16] An epithelial collarette may be observed, particularly in those bacillary angiomatosis nodules that clinically resemble pyogenic granuloma. The dermis shows a vascular proliferation with small vessels arranged in clusters around ectatic vessels that may be markedly dilated. A lobular pattern may be observed, with varying amounts of edema and mucinous or fibrotic change between the lobules. Protuberant cuboidal endothelial cells line the blood vessel lobules. This lobulation is accentuated with a reticulum stain. Little or no atypia is usually observed, although marked atypia of endothelial nuclei has been described with solid-appearing areas of endothelial cells having many mitotic figures and necrosis.
Some bacillary angiomatosis lesions have 2 distinct regions of vascular proliferation, a superficial one resembling a pyogenic granuloma or a papular angiokeratoma and a deeper one similar to a histiocytoid hemangioma with a proliferation of small blood vessels lined by protuberant endothelial cells closely adherent to one another in an epithelioid pattern. The presence of neutrophils adjacent to the blood vessels is noteworthy and may be an important clue to this diagnosis. Granular material resembling fibrin may be beside the neutrophils. This is the bacterium, observed best with either Warthin-Starry silver or Grocott-silver methenamine stain. A similar histologic pattern may be evident in affected oral mucosa, lymph nodes, liver, spleen, bone marrow, larynx, GI tract, peritoneum, diaphragm, and bronchial mucosa.[17, 18]
See the images below.
Many blood vessels of varying dimensions lined by swollen endothelial cells that contain bacilli. An infiltrate of acute and chronic inflammatory cells as well as fibrin deposition is noted in places (hematoxylin and eosin, X80).
Lesion showing large masses of blood vessels of markedly varying dimensions lined by swollen endothelial cells. The tissue is friable with evident fragmentation during processing (hematoxylin and eosin, X23). Some lesions have only a few solitary neutrophils and moderate numbers of bacteria, whereas others have clusters of neutrophils and numerous nearby bacteria, in some cases to the extent of mimicking a frank abscess.
Some bacillary angiomatosis nodules may histologically resemble those of histiocytoid (epithelioid) hemangioma, Kaposi sarcoma, and verruga peruana (bartonellosis). A proliferation of both endothelial cells and factor XIIIa–positive dermal dendrocytes is observed in bacillary angiomatosis, verruga peruana, granuloma pyogenicum, and Kaposi sarcoma.
B henselae and B quintana, the etiologic agents of bacillary angiomatosis, may stain positively with a specific antiserum against the cat scratch bacillus; however, bacillary angiomatosis is a vascular proliferation, not a formation of stellate abscesses without granuloma formation as is cat scratch disease. In addition, patients with cat scratch disease do not respond to antibiotics, as do patients with bacillary angiomatosis.
The organisms causing bacillary angiomatosis resemble the agent of verruga peruana and Oroya fever (bartonellosis), Bartonella bacilliformis, in producing a histologically similar vascular proliferation, in having a gram-negative wall structure observed by electron microscopy, and in tending to grow in clumps visible by light microscopy. Bartonellosis is transmitted by an insect vector (a Peruvian sandfly) present only in a mountainous region of Peru near the city of Oroya and is first evident within erythrocytes, producing its febrile manifestation (Oroya fever).
Cervical lymph node tissue also can reveal organisms identified as Bartonella with PCR techniques.[16]
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