CUTANEOUS PSEUDOLYMPHOMA IN ASSOCIATION WITH MOLLUSCUM CONTAGIOSUM

Cutaneous pseudolymphomas have been defined as benign lymphocytic infi ltrates of the skin that simulate cutaneous lymphoma clinically or his tologically. The authors report on a 2-year-old boy with a lesion of m olluscum contagiosum in which the inflammatory infiltrate that surroun ded a cystlike structure containing molluscum bodies consisted of atyp ical hyperchromatic mononuclear cells with abundant mitotic figures, s ome of them atypical. Immunohistochemical investigation demonstrated t hat the infiltrate was predominantly composed of T lymphocytes. A prev ious report documented pseudoleukemia cutis associated with molluscum contagiosum, and this report expands the spectrum of histopathologic p seudomalignancies that may be seen in lesions of molluscum contagiosum .