Professor LIU Yeqiang’s team from the Department of Dermatology of the Dermatology Hospital of Tongji University published a classic case of "Eruptive Xanthomas" with clinical medical pictures in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM; IF:91.245). XU Mingyuan, the doctor in charge of the case, is the first author and Professor LIU Yeqiang the corresponding author.

The Eruptive Xanthomas case published in NEJM

The case reported a 27-year-old young man with a history of obesity who presented to the clinic an asymptomatic rash with yellow papules on his upper back, arms and hands which had developed over a week. Laboratory examination on the patient's blood sample discovered chyle blood. The patient who was diagnosed as an eruptive xanthoma case with severe hyperlipidemia, was accepted in internal medicine for treatment. Eruptive xanthoma categorized under xanthomatosis, is relatively rare in clinic and is related to hypertriglyceridemia. Typical rashes are yellow or orange papules, sizes of which range from needle tips to soybeans. They appear periodically or suddenly on the extension parts of the limbs, and may be accompanied by pruritus and isomorphic reactions. They are mostly caused by familial hypercholesterolemia, alcohol consumption, diabetes, obesity, hypothyroidism or treatment with glucocorticoids, estrogen and retinoic acid. The symptoms can usually be relieved after treatment of the basic disease. It is not difficult to reach the diagnosis according to the typical clinical manifestations and medical history. Histopathological biopsy may help with confirmation of the diagnosis when necessary while infiltration of foam cells in the dermis can be observed pathologically. Skin manifestation is the first symptom of this patient. Early screening and identification of skin manifestation of systemic diseases are very important for the treatment of diseases and the subsequent prevention of serious complications such as diabetes, coronary artery disease and pancreatitis.

New England Journal of Medicine, founded in 1812, has a history of 210 years. It is a weekly medical journal published by the Massachusetts Medical Society. It is among the most prestigious peer-reviewed medical journals as well as the oldest continuously published one. The column "Images in Clinical Medicine" publishes clinically enlightening cases in pictures with captions, which is popular among readers.

Link to paper：

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMicm2112562?query=featured_secondary