Verrucous localized lymphedema of genital areas: Clinicopathologic report of 18 cases of this rare entity

Abstract

Localized lymphedema is a nonneoplastic condition associated with obesity and predominantly involving the legs. This condition has distinctive clinical and histologic features and only rarely has been mentioned in the dermatologic literature. We sought to evaluate the clinical and histopathologic features. The clinicopathologic features in patients with localized lymphedema of the genital region were studied. We identified 18 patients with localized lymphedema clinically presenting as large polypoid or verrucous lesions. The patients were 5 men and 13 women with a mean age of 46.5 years. Twelve patients were obese at diagnosis. Thirteen patients presented with tumors involving the vulva, 4 patients with tumors in the penis and scrotum, and 1 patient with scrotal and pubic lesions. Histologically, all cases showed marked dermal edema along with dilated lymphatic spaces, fibroplasia, and verrucous epidermal changes (papillomatous and hyperplastic epidermis). Only 18 cases were included in our study. This condition is an uncommon and recently described entity that could potentially be clinically and histologically misdiagnosed as a neoplasm; thus, it needs to be included in the differential diagnosis of polypoid and verrucous skin tumors with extensive dermal edema and fibroplasia.