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Summary A 28-year-old Japanese woman with hereditary complement (C9) deficiency and dermatomyositis is reported. She had a 3-year history of facial erythema and a 1-month history of progressive muscle weakness. Clinical and laboratory findings were suggestive of dermatomyositis; muscle biopsy confirmed an inflammatory myopathy. An unexpected finding, however, was the low titre of serum haemolytic complement (CH50). Treatment with prednisolone resulted in marked clinical improvement but did not affect the CH50 titre. Further investigation revealed a selective and total absence of the ninth complement component (C9), with direct DNA sequence analysis revealing a non-sense mutation at Arg[sup 95] of the C9 gene. This case demonstrates that the muscle lesions of dermatomyositis can occur in the presence of a complement defect that would prevent the formation of the C5b-9 membrane attack complex. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A 72-year-old woman with a burn scar on the calves of both legs developed an ulcer on her right heel, surrounded by multiple verrucous nodules and plaques. She had experienced similar verrucous lesions on both legs in the burn scar areas. Although the clinical diagnosis was Marjolin’s ulcer, histologically the ulcer region showed thick fibrous tissue without any atypical epithelial cells. The verrucous lesions were consistent with the diagnosis of eccrine syringofibroadenoma (ESFA). Moreover, an ESFA-like growth pattern was seen in the elevated margin of the ulcer. Our findings suggest that these lesions developed as a result of reactive eccrine duct hyperplasia followed by skin tissue remodelling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a letter to the editor about naevoid basal cell carcinoma syndrome.

Presents a letter to the editor about the effects of flutamide for the treatment of prostatic carcinoma.