title: [Childhood-onset multifocal atrophic dermatofibrosarcoma].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Atrophic dermatofibrosarcoma is a rare clinical variant of dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans (or Darier-Ferrand tumor) preferentially observed in childhood and early adulthood.
  
  
  METHODS
  We report a case of multifocal atrophic dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans of childhood onset only diagnosed when the patient was 29 years old. The clinical presentation was an asymptomatic macular brown plaque on the right thigh measuring 10 cm. Initially, because of the large size of the lesion, treatment consisted of limited surgical excision.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Diagnosis of the atrophic variant of dermatofibrosarcoma in childhood is difficult, and is usually made several years later in early adulthood because of its slow development, lack of symptoms and generally benign appearance. Histological tests and immunohistochemical staining may confirm clinically suspected diagnosis, and in complex cases, cytogenetic studies can help confirm a diagnosis of dermatofibrosarcoma through detection of reciprocal translocation t (17,22), which fuses collagen type Ialpha1 (COLIA1) and platelet-derived growth factor (PDGDFbeta), and which is highly characteristic of dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans. Conventional treatment of dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans consists of extensive surgical excision, but Mohs micrographic surgery is also advocated for removal of certain dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans, while use of tyrosine kinase PDGF receptor inhibitors such as imatinib mesylate (Glivec) is limited to distant metastases.
authors.affiliation: Service de Dermatologie, Hôpital Haut Lévêque, CHU de Bordeaux.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kostrzewa
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Beylot-Barry
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Vergier
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pedeutour
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Beylot
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017668:Age of Onset; D018223:Dermatofibrosarcoma / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*