Multinucleated epidermal giant cells in inflammatory skin diseases.

The occurrence of multinucleated epidermal giant cells (MEGCs) with more than three clumping nuclei has been considered an episodic and exceptional phenomenon in inflammatory skin diseases. However, we have found them in 97 histologic specimens obtained from inflammatory lesions. They appeared in 88 of 196 biopsy specimens from a group of patients with chronic eczema or prurigo. In pruriginous lesions alone, they were found in 67 (74%) of 90 specimens. On the other hand, MEGCs were found rarely in lichen amyloidosus (2/11), dermatitis herpetiformis (1/6), erythema multiforme (1/11), pustular psoriasis (1/17), lichen planus (1/29), lupus erythematosus (1/30), and pustulosis palmaris et plantaris (1/41), probably representing just a chance occurrence in these dermatoses.