[Fegelers syndrome, acquired port-wine stain or acquired capillary malformation: three cases and a literature review].

BACKGROUND

Port-wine stains or capillary malformations are generally congenital. Very few cases of acquired port-wine stains in adults have been described, and these occur particularly after trauma.

METHODS

We report three cases of acquired port-wine stains and we performed a review of the literature using the keywords "port-wine stain", "capillary malformation", "angioma" and "acquired" in the Medline database PubMed. All relevant articles were included.

RESULTS

Two male patients and one female patient consulted for one or more angiomatous lesions, located respectively on the upper rear part of the right thigh (case 1), the left leg (case 2) and the right side of the face, skull and chest (case 3). Each patient's skin biopsy was consistent with port-wine stain. The three patients asserted the acquired nature of the lesions: the male patients were respectively 17 and 38 years old, and the female patient was 11 years old. No causative factors were evident preceding the lesion, and there was no family history of port-wine stain. The topography was systematic in patients 2 and 3. The lesions were light red in patient 1, dark red in patient 2 and pale pink in patient 3. The remainder of the physical examination was unremarkable, except for benign angiokeratoma of the scrotum in case 1 and pigmented leucoderma-type macules in case 3. LITERATURE RESULTS: Sixty-six cases of acquired port-wine stains were reported in the literature. The average age was 25 years (3-69) with a sex-ratio of 0.88. Generally, no causative factor was given. However, trauma (30.5%), estrogenic impregnation (16.5%), and more rarely, medication, solar damage, frostbite, cluster headache, herpes zoster and acoustic neuroma were reported as causatives factors.

CONCLUSIONS

Acquired port-wine stain is rare. Although often idiopathic, it can result from spinal trauma, which must be explored if suggested by the history. In our series, the clinical presentation suggested a latent congenital vascular malformation of late onset, in particular in patients 2 and 3, because of the segmental distribution.