Multiple cutaneous epithelioid hemangioendothelioma: a case with spindle cells

A case of multiple cutaneous epithelioid hemangioendothelioma (EH) in a Japanese male is reported. The patient was a 52-year-old Japanese bureaucrat. Clinically, about 10 purplish-red, elastic soft or hard papules and nodules had appeared on both lower extremities and the left buttock over the past 20 years. They were excised, but some of them recurred. Histologically, the papules and nodules were well-circumscribed tumors located in the superficial and deep dermis. They appeared to arise from medium-sized vessels and were composed of proliferations of characteristic epithelioid endothelial cells with intracytoplasmic vacuolization and spindle cells. No other extracutaneous tumors were found. We diagnosed the present case as multiple cutaneous EH with spindle cells. The presence of epithelioid endothelial cells and absence of pleomorphism and mitoses of nuclei of spindle cells made differential diagnosis from Kaposi's sarcoma possible. The protracted clinical course seems characteristic of EH in various organs including skin.