Albert Bernard Ackerman

Our purpose in undertaking this Arbeit was to review all articles published about "atypical" Spitz's nevus, "malignant" Spitz's nevus, and "metastasizing" Spitz's nevus, to criticize them in a fashion that illuminates, and to come to conclusions compellingly about those subjects. We found that an overwhelming majority of neoplasms that claimed to be "atypical Spitz's nevus," "metastasizing Spitz's nevus," and "malignant Spitz's nevus" were, in fact, melanomas ( Table 1). Moreover, in our ...

The thesis is set forth in this treatise that there is no place in the routine practice of medicine for the procedure for melanoma known conventionally and universally as sentinel node biopsy. Our assertion is based on assessment of the extensive body of literature devoted to the subject of treatment of melanoma before any metastasis has manifested itself clinically and of that dedicated to therapy for overt metastatic melanoma by a variety of modalities, chief among those addressed here ...

In the MARCH 1995 issue of the Archives, Burg and Dummer,1 in an Editorial, advanced the thesis that "small plaque (digitate) parapsoriasis is an 'abortive' cutaneous T-cell lymphoma and is not mycosis fungoides." Their conclusion is illogical; if small plaque parapsoriasis is a cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, even an "abortive" one (according to The Oxford English Dictionary, abortive means unsuccessful), it is a lymphoma, and the T-cell lymphoma in skin characterized by scaly patches is ...

Our series was comprised of 11 children age 10 years or younger (6 were younger than age 5) with primary cutaneous melanoma. All of the melanomas occurred de novo and all metastasized; one child died. In no instance was melanoma a clinical consideration, and in none did the histopathologist who first "signed out" the case make a diagnosis of melanoma. Despite the inability of clinicians and pathologists to diagnose correctly, with repeatability, melanomas that develop in children yet to ...

The same errors that spawned, sustained, and continue to spur the notions of "atypical" Spitz's nevus, "malignant" Spitz's nevus, and "metastasizing" Spitz's nevus are animating of 3 other concepts flawed equally, namely, those of "atypical blue nevus," "malignant blue nevus," and "metastasizing blue nevus." Our intention here is to compel to the conclusion, by way of critique in historical perspective, that all neoplasms claimed to be "malignant blue nevus" and "metastasizing blue ...

The effects of resin of podophyllin on lesions of condyloma acuminatum have posed problems to pathologists who sought to differentiate them histologically from squamous cell carcinoma in situ. The most striking histologic changes in lesions of condyloma acuminatum following application of resin of podophyllin occur within the first 48 hours. They are pallor of the epidermis secondary to both intracellular and intercellular edema, numerous necrotic keratinocytes in the lower half of the ...

Confusion abounds regarding the terms "follicular mucinosis" and "alopecia mucinosa," not only concerning definition and essential character, but of relationships between themselves on one hand and between themselves and mycosis fungoides on the other. We address here those issues in methodical fashion, first in historical perspective by review, scrupulously and critically, of what has been said in the many articles devoted to the subject; we next tell how the terms "alopecia mucinosa" ...

More than 200 patients with prurigo pigmentosa, a disease described first by Nagashima in 1971, have been reported on in Japan, but only 28 non-Japanese patients have come to notice as of today. In order to establish reliable, repeatable criteria for diagnosis of the disease, we studied 25 patients with prurigo pigmentosa and reviewed the literature pertaining to it as recorded in another 182 patients.Clinically, prurigo pigmentosa presents itself as pruritic urticarial papules, ...

In four instances, metastases to epidermis from primary cutaneous malignant melanomas at different sites showed histological features similar to those of cutaneous malignant melanoma primary in the epidermis. In these metastases, atypical melanocytes were present within the epidermis and in the upper part of the dermis much as in primary cutaneous malignant melanoma. Therefore, the presence of atypical melanocytes within the epidermis is not in itself an absolute criterion of malignant ...

We report an intensely pruritic cutaneous eruption that occurs in the third trimester of pregnancy. The clinical manifestations include erythematous urticarial papules and plaques that begin on the abdomen and spread to involve the thighs and occasionally the buttocks and arms. This dermatosis appears to be clinically distinct from previously described pruritic eruptions occurring in pregnancy. Biopsy specimens of the lesions show two histological patterns. We propose that this entity be ...