Myxoid angioblastomatosis of bones. A case report of a rare, multifocal entity with light, ultramicroscopic, and immunopathologic correlation.

An example of multicentric, skeletal, myxoid angioblastomas in a Japanese woman is reported. The disease was symptomatic at age 12 years and was characterized by slowly progressive, multiple, lytic bone defects. In addition the patient had juvenile hypertension, and, at age 20 years, had focal brain infarction. The primitive vascular nature of the process was supported by the following observations: occasional erythrocytes within cytoplasmic lumina and capillary-like cellular tubes; Weibel-Palade bodies, numerous pinocytotic vesicles, prominent microvilli, elaborate intercellular contacts, desmosomes, and numerous arrays of fine intracytoplasmic filaments by electron microscopy; and, in addition, Factor VIII positivity. The clinical findings in this case are more consistent with a multicentric, rather than a metastatic process. The name myxoid angioblastomatosis of bones is appropriate.