Cutaneous Polyarteritis Nodosa

Summary.— The case histories of 102 consecutive patients suffering from polyarteritis nodosa were reviewed. The 17 patients with skin lesions were personally examined and investigated. Thirteen were found to have polyarteritis affecting the skin. In one of these cutaneous involvement occurred only 4 days before death and 5 weeks after the onset of the illness. The other 12 showed remarkably similar clinical and pathological features and, together with 3 cases from another hospital, are described in detail. Only the skin, skeletal muscles and peripheral nerves were involved. No deaths have occurred to date (longest follow-up period 23 years), and the disease is now either entirely quiescent or represented only by occasional cutaneous lesions. It is concluded that about 10% of all cases of polyarteritis nodosa, and 30% of those proven histologically, are of this benign type and that this variety can be easily recognized clinically.