A case of angiolymphoid hyperplasia with eosinophilia of the penis is reported. In addition to the proliferation of swollen endothelial cells with features of histiocytes ("histiocytoid endothelial cells"), the lesions also showed a remarkable proliferation of pericytes both in relation to formed vascular channels and away from them. The authors consider that the inflammatory component is associated with even the earliest stages in the development of the lesions and that it not be dismissed as secondary.
Cancer 47:944-949, 1981.
ELLS A N D WHIMSTER"' in 1969 were first to report a condition they termed "subcutaneous angiolymphoid hyperplasia with eosinophilia," based on a study of nine patients. Unencapsulated masses of angiolymphoid hyperplasia form the lesions. These are composed of proliferating capillaries with imperfectly canalized endothelial cells, eosinophilic infiltrates, excessive mast cells, many reticulin fibers with little collagenous fibrosis, and lymphoreticular hyperplasia. The lesions are most frequently found about the head and neck region, particularly in and around the ears. The site of disease in the case discussed in this paper was the penis, a site of origin of this lesion that has not previously been reported.
At 34 years ofage, the patient, a black male, noticed a painless, nontender, small firm nodule in his penis. The nodule increased slowly in size and became associated with painful erections. He had received treatment for gonococcal urethritis in the past. There was no history of peculiar sexual habits, injection of foreign substances, or any form of self-instrumentation. He was not seen by us until 35 years of age, when the penile From the Departments of Pathology and Surgery, Section of