Acute panniculitis: a clinical and histopathologic study of 34 cases

Abstract

Thirty-four patients had histopathologic findings of acute panniculitis. 15 had clinical findings of erythema nodosum; 6 had infectious lesions; and 5 had Weber-Christian-like conditions with recurrent febrile suppurative or nonsuppurative nodular eruptions; 3 of the 5 had amylase and lipase enzyme abnormalities with or without pancreatic disease. Five additional patients had acute panniculitis that would be termed "deythema induratum" or "nodular vasculitis" by most clinicians, and the subsequent pathologic findings and courses were consistent with this view. Two patients had limited, traumatic panniculitis, forming a distinctive group, but trauma was a factor in lesion formation in all groups, and one patient had vasculitis. Whereas acute panniculitis, with or without fat necrosis, may be associated with many inflammatory syndromes of the skin and subcutaneous tissue and may rarely occur in all, the most common relationship is with erythema nodosum in its most acute forms.