Childhood neutrophilic eccrine hidradenitis: A clinicopathologic and immunohistochemical study of 10 patients

Background: Neutrophilic eccrine hidradenitis (NEH) is occasionally reported in patients who have not received chemotherapy. Objective: The purpose of this study was to describe the clinicopathologic features of NEH occurring in healthy children and to investigate the interleukin (IL)-8 expression in the cutaneous lesions. Methods: Ten children with characteristic histologic features of NEH were collected from the Chang Gung Memorial Hospital. Their formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded specimens were examined by immunohistochemical staining for IL-8. Results: The age of first presentation at our clinic ranged from 6 months to 14 months with a median age of 9.1 months. The onset of the disease clustered in the summertime. The most common clinical appearance was multiple erythematous papules and nodules on the limbs. Two of 7 biopsy specimens grew coagulase-negative Staphylococcus. None of patients had underlying systemic disease and all had complete resolution of the lesions within 3 weeks. Immunohistochemical staining for IL-8 was negative in the 10 cases studied. Conclusion: Childhood NEH appears as urticaria-like erythematous nodules and plaques on the limbs, trunk, or scalp. This benign and limited disease occurs with a predilection for summer months. In our study, onset was in children less than 15 months of age. IL-8 was not detected in the cutaneous lesions.