Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
BACKGROUND: Secondary syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection, which is referred to as "the great imitator" and has a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations. As a result, it is essential to identify potential secondary syphilis patients with ambiguous clinical manifestation through pathology. OBJECTIVE: We sought to analyze the pathological features of secondary syphilis. METHODS: We analyzed 59 biopsy specimens from 56 patients with secondary syphilis. Cases were classified according to the histological characteristics and clinical features. RESULTS: Necrotic keratinocytes could be observed in 39 of 59 (66.1%) secondary specimens. Plasma cells (86.4%) were the most common finding overall. The presence of Treponema pallidum was detected mostly at the dermal-epidermal junction. There was no statistical significance between pathological features and age, HIV status, or RPR titer. CONCLUSIONS: Necrotic keratinocytes are one of the characteristics of secondary syphilis. The combination of plasma cells, irregular acanthosis, elongated rete ridges, and endothelial swelling should increase the likelihood of syphilis.
Liu et al. (Thu,) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: