Author: Dr Jenny Chung, House Officer, Auckland City Hospital, Auckland, New Zealand; Chief Editor: Dr Amanda Oakley, Dermatologist, Hamilton, New Zealand, August 2016.
Dermatological symptoms and signs sometimes precede or accompany a gastrointestinal disease. It should be noted that the embryonic origin of the gastrointestinal tract and the skin are closely aligned.
Liver cirrhosis
Common cutaneousmanifestations of liver cirrhosis include:
Acrodermatitis enteropathica is an autosomal recessive inherited form of zinc deficiency that manifests in infancy. It presents with the clinical triad of dermatitis, alopecia and diarrhoea. Skin signs include:
Pink, scaly patches and plaques on extremities, periorificial and anogenital sites
Can include psoriasiform plaques, vesicular, bullous, pustular or erosivelesions.
Palpable purpuric lesions usually affect buttocks and legs.
HSP may also cause gastrointestinal vasculitis causing abdominal pain and melaena, due to bowel wall oedema, haemorrhage, and rarely, bowel infarction, perforation and intussusception.
Other symptoms may include arthritis (80%), abdominal pain (50–75%) and nephritis (40%).
Henoch Schönlein purpura
Henoch Schönlein purpura
Henoch Schönlein purpura
Degos disease
Degos disease is small vessel angiopathy, thought to be due to dysregulation of interferon-alfa and the membranolytic attack complex. There are two variants: benign atrophic papulosis and malignant atrophic papulosis.
Degos disease presents with 2–5 mm, rose-coloured papules that heal as umbilicated scars with white porcelain centre, erythematous rim, and surrounding telangiectasia.
Lesions most commonly occur on the trunk and arms, sparing the face, palms and soles.
Malignant atrophic papulosis is associated with gastrointestinal disease in 50–61%, causing intestinal perforation. Plaques are found on serosa and peritoneum.
They may form anywhere from the mouth to the anus, most commonly in the small bowel.
The “blue rubber nipple” is a blue-purple, soft, rubbery subcutaneous nodule that fills after compression.
Associated haemangiomas are tender macular lesions found on upper limbs, trunk, perineum.
Blue rubber blebnaevus
Blue rubber bleb naevus
Blue rubber bleb naevus
Pseudoxanthoma elasticum
Pseudoxanthoma elasticum (PXE) is an inherited disease in which there are calcification and fragmentation of elastin fibres in the skin and internal organs.
It presents in early teens with cutaneous changes.
Small yellow papules coalescing into cobblestone plaques are found on neck, flexures, bottom lip and are associated with loss of cutaneous elasticity.
Gastrointestinal haemorrhage affects 15% of patients.
Cream coloured plaques of PXE in the axilla
Yellow plaques of PXE on the neck
Lax yellow neck skin in longstanding PXE
Ehlers-Danlos syndrome type IV
Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) type IV is an inheritable connective tissue disease due to a defect in collagensynthesis.
Patients present with translucent skin, varicosities, delayed wound healing and keloids.
They are susceptible to arterial rupture and visceral perforation.
Desmoid tumours (10-14%), which are benign fibrous mesenchymal neoplasms. They are non-tender, well-circumscribed, firm, flesh coloured tumours located on the abdomen; intra-, extra- and within the abdominal wall. They can also occur on the shoulder, chest wall and inguinal area.
Skin lesions that might be associated with Gardner syndrome
Epidermal cyst
Lipoma
Hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer
Hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer, also known as Lynch syndrome, is the most common hereditary cancer.
is an autosomal dominant disorder, accounting for 3% of all colon cancers
Muir-Torre variant has most of the skin manifestations:
Sebaceousadenoma and sebaceoma: yellow papules or nodules usually on the face
Sebaceous carcinoma, a periorbital or extraocular yellow nodule that may ulcerate and invade
Lentigines around the mouth, on hands, feet and genitals
Vitiligo
Acanthosis nigricans
Facial papule
Acral keratoses
Close-up
Bannayan-Riley-Ruvalcaba syndrome
The Bannayan-Riley-Ruvalcaba (BRR) syndrome is a rare germlinemutation with hamartomatous polyposis, macrocephaly, and intellectual disability. Skin manifestations include:
The abnormal palms are characterised by epidermal thickening with wrinkled broadened mesh-like ridges bounded by deep grooves within palms and fingers.
Acrokeratosis paraneoplastica is a rare, acral and psoriasiform dermatosis associated with cancers in upper respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts.
Glucagonoma syndrome
Glucagonoma is a rare, glucagon-secreting, pancreatic, alpha cell tumour.
Glucagonoma is associated with necrolytic migratory erythema, a painful, pruritic, annular, erythematous eruption with central blisters, erosions, crusting and postinflammatory pigmentation.
Dermatomyositis is classified as an autoimmune disease. In older adults with dermatomyositis, 15–50% have an underlying malignancy of the gastrointestinal tract, pancreas, lung, breast, or ovaries, or non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Dermatomyositis associated with malignancy may precede the diagnosis of cancer by about six months.
Skin signs of paraneoplastic dermatomyositis include:
Heliotrope rash with periorbital oedema
Gottron papules on finger joints
Violaceous poikiloderma over the chest, upper back, elbows and knees
Nail signs: “ragged cuticle” and nail fold telangiectasias.
PNP is rarely associated with tumours of the gastrointestinal tract.
Other associated cancers include non-Hodgkin lymphoma and other haematological diseases, thymoma, sarcoma, lung cancer, and melanoma.
References
Gloster Jr HM, Gebauer LE, Mistur RL (eds). Cutaneous manifestations of gastrointestinal disease. In: Absolute dermatology review: mastering clinical conditions on the dermatology recertification exam. Springer International Publishing Switzerland, 2016:171–9.
Rahvar M, Kerstetter J. Cutaneous manifestation of gastrointestinal disease. J Gastrointest Oncol. 2016;7(Suppl 1):s44–s54. PubMed Central.
Shah KR, Boland R, Patel M, Thrash B, Menter A. Cutaneous manifestations of gastrointestinal disease: part I. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2013;68:189.e1–21. PubMed.
Thrash B, Patel M, Shah K, Boland R, Menter A. Cutaneous manifestations of gastrointestinal disease; Part II. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2013;68:211.e1–33. PubMed.
Vazquez-Roque MI, De Jesus-Monge WE. Cutaneous manifestations of gastrointestinal diseases. In: Sanchez NP, editor. Atlas of Dermatology in Internal Medicine. LLC: Springer Science+Business Media; 2012. P. 41–51.