Sir,
Chromoblastomycosis is a chronic fungal infection prevalent in tropical regions, but rare in Tunisia. It causes some diagnostic difficulties. We report the third case of a Tunisian man.
A 47-year-old man presented with a skin lesion, of 3 years duration, located in the right limb. The lesion gradually expanded to form a 20 cm violet-colored papule with an atrophic center (
Violet-colored papule with an atrophic center.
Biopsy showed hyperpasic epidermis within a granulomatous reaction in the dermis.
A deep skin biopsy revealed the presence of fungal elements.
In the Maghreb countries, chromomycosis is rare. Among 30 observations of deep mycoses in Morocco, only 5 patients presented chromomycosis [
The primary lesion is thought to develop as a result of percutaneous traumatic inoculation [
The disease affects predominantly men. Typical lesions grow slowly over many years and tend to be found on the lower limbs. The morphology of the lesion may be tumor, nodular, verrucous, plaque-like, psoriasiform, and papule as in our case or scar [
In our country chromomycosis lesions may be confused with leishmaniasis, verrucous tuberculosis, and tertiary syphilis [
Histologic appearances are hyperkeratosis, pseudoepitheliomatous hyperplasia and granulomas in the upper and mid dermis. The granulomas are mostly of tuberculoid type, although a few suppurative granulomas are present. Intraepidermal microabscesses are often present. There is a background infiltrate of chronic inflammatory cells, and sometimes a few eosinophils, in the upper dermis, round, thick-walled, golden brown cells (sclerotic bodies, muriform cells, medlar bodies) 5-12 micrometer can be seen in giant cells and lying free in the epidermal microabscesses. These sclerotic bodies are usually seen readily in heamatoxylin and eosin preparations and particularly in sections stained with hematoxylin alone [
If not diagnosed and treated early, chromomycosis has a chronic evolutional course. The most frequent complication was secondary bacterial infection. Chronic chromomycosis also has potential association with epidermoid carcinoma (14 cases are reported in the literature) [
Treatment in localized lesions can be surgical. Widespread lesions and long-standing cases can be treated medically [
Finally, Chromomycosis is quite rare in our country. Anatomopathologists should be aware of this diagnosis.