We report a 10-month-old girl who, at 4 months, developed a small, reddish, plaquelike lesion on her tongue. This lesion began to enlarge rapidly, resulting in difficulty in swallowing and breathing. On physical examination, there was a large, red, friable, hard in consistency, irregular tumor over the distal portion of her tongue. The histopathology and immunohistochemical findings were consistent with an embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma. The patient was assigned clinical stage I, group III, and began treatment according to the Intergroup Rhabdomyosarcoma Study guidelines, on triple-agent chemotherapy consisting of vincristine, actinomycin D, and cyclophosphamide. She only received four cycles because her parents then refused this treatment. After the tumor size was reduced by chemotherapy, a partial anterior glossectomy was performed. After 30 months of follow-up she has had no recurrences.

Tetracycline was shown to be effective as an adjuvant therapy for pemphigus with low toxicity and safety.

We describe an 11-year-old girl with a persistent pruritic papular eruption on the vulva. Clinically, the lesions consisted of whitish papules and erosions located on the inner aspect of the labia majora. There was no familial history of skin diseases. Histologically, a biopsy specimen showed difuse hyperkeratosis, parakeratosis, acantholysis throughout the thickness of the epidermis, and the presence of corps ronds. Those findings were consistent with a diagnosis of acantholytic dyskeratosis. At 3 years follow-up, only isolated hyperkeratotic, asymptomatic papules on the same location remained. The occurrence of this focal and sporadic, localized form of acantholytic dyskeratosis seems to be rare in the pediatric population, as we could find no other child with this entity reported in the literature.

Bullous pemphigoid (BP) is a very rare acquired immunbullous disease in children and infants. We report the case of a 15-month-old boy referred to our service with multiple tense bullae located predominantly on the trunk, neck and proximal portion of the limbs. Palms, soles and oral mucosa were also affected. Histopathologic and immunopathologic features were characterized with bullous pemphigoid. The patient responded well to systemic steroids, with improvement of his condition. After a 10-year follow up the patient was no longer suffering from the disease.

Two native Yanomami children from the Venezuelan Amazonia with erythroderma were hospitalized on our service. Clinical, histologic, and immunofluorescence studies diagnosed endemic pemphigus foliaceous. Human leukocyte antigen class II showed DRB1*04 subtype *0411, which has not been previously associated with this disease. However, it shares a common epitope with all the human leukocyte antigen DRB1 alleles that have been involved in this disease among Brazilian populations. Although this condition is endemic in Brazil, our patients are the first two reported in Venezuela.

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Immediate placement of dental implants (DI) in fresh extraction sockets is associated with remaining voids around the DI and often a partial dehiscence or thin facial alveolar plate. Bioplant HTR synthetic bone (HTR) was used as a ridge preservation/augmentation material in conjunction with this method of DI placement. A 61-year-old white woman requiring extraction of tooth 12 opted for immediate DI placement. HTR was used to fill the remaining socket void and enhance the facial ridge width, and primary closure was attempted with sutures. DI uncovering was performed at about 6 months. Measurements were taken to the nearest 0.5 mm of the internal socket width and total site width at DI placement and uncovering. The internal socket width was essentially maintained (6.8 vs 6.6 mm), and the total ridge width showed a change from 8.7 to 9.1 mm. The results of this case suggest that HTR is a useful adjunct in the placement of immediate DIs for the preservation of ridge width.

No abstract