Immunophenotyping in Diagnosis of Balanitis Xerotica Obliterans in Children

Pediatric Pathology, Volume 14, Issue 2: Pages 222-233, March/April 1994.

Composition of the inflammatory infiltrate in pediatric penile lichen sclerosus et atrophicus (balanitis xerotica obliterans): a prospective, comparative immunophenotyping study.

Hinchliffe SA, Ciftci AO, Khine MM, Rickwood AM, Ashwood J, McGill F, Clapham EM, van Velzen D

Department of Fetal and Infant Pathology
University of Liverpool,
Royal Liverpool Children's Hospital Alder Hey,
United Kingdom.

Dermatopathological evaluation of pediatric preputial inflammatory disease rarely allows for specific diagnosis other than pediatric penile lichen sclerosus et atrophicus (balanitis xerotica obliterans, LSA/BXO). A prospective immunopathological study was performed on 20 consecutive, unselected, clinically and histopathologically confirmed LSA/BXO cases to determine the relative presence of T and B lymphocytes. There were seven cases with early stages of disease, eight with florid disease, and five with later stages of disease. Two ritual circumcision specimens and 12 specimens with non-LSA/BXO balanitis, collected during the same period, were used as controls. The infiltrate in LSA/BXO patients was wholly composed of T cells (positive with UCLH-1 antibody) in all cases. B cells (positive with L-26 antibody) were found only focally in small, discreet, easily recognizable (follicular or early follicle-like) aggregates, positioned slightly deeper than the band-like infiltrate of T cells. T cells were inconspicuous in 9 of the 12 control specimens. In the three other controls, T cells were much more obvious and these patients showed clinical features possibly suggestive of LSA/BXO in early, prediagnosable phases of development. We conclude that limited immunophenotyping may be a useful adjunct to diagnosis in pediatric cases in which only limited tissue is available or the disease may be more difficult to classify with confidence.

PMID: 8008686, UI: 94277915

Citation:

Hinchliffe SA, Ciftci AO, Khine MM, et al. Composition of the inflammatory infiltrate in pediatric penile lichen sclerosus et atrophicus (balanitis xerotica obliterans): a prospective, comparative immunophenotyping study. Pediatr Pathol 1994;14(2):223-33

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