CME

Continuing Medical Education

Cutaneous Mucormycosis Secondary to Acquired Reactive Perforating Collagenosis

Weiss SC, Moschella SL, Kwan T, Craven DE

Cutis. 2003;72:119-123.

Acquired reactive perforating collagenosis (ARPC) is a rare perforating disease of the skin. It is characterized by hyperkeratotic papules with transepidermal elimination of degenerated material including collagen and elastic fibers. The disease presents clinically as umbilicated papules with a central adherent keratotic plug. Mucormycosis infection, caused by the molds of the class Zygomycetes and order Mucorales, generally occurs as an opportunistic infection. It presents most frequently in patients with diabetes mellitus, in patients with leukemia receiving chemotherapy, and in those on sustained immunosuppressive therapy.

We describe a patient with type 2 diabetes mellitus and end-stage renal disease requiring hemodialysis in whom extensive cutaneous mucormycosis with secondary spread to the brain, lumbar spine, and breast developed in the setting of ARPC. To our knowledge, this is the first case report of a patient with ARPC who developed extensive cutaneous mucormycosis.

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