Abstract

ACHENBACH, RE. Leser-Trélat: no evidence. Rev. argent. dermatol. [online]. 2014, vol.95, n.4, pp.21-23. ISSN 1851-300X.

The sign of Leser-Trélat is abrupt appearance and rapid increase in size and number of seborrheic keratoses in the context of an associated internal malignancy. From its very inception, however, the sign of Leser-Trélat was beset by problems conceptual. For one, Leser and Trélat did not describe seborrheic keratoses in association with malignancy of an internal organ and, moreover, not a single picture of the lesions they described was published by them. In actuality, the original article concerned cherry hemangiomas. Moreover, no citations by Trélat pertained to what came to be known as the sign of Leser-Trélat. It was Höllander, in 1900, who was the first to suggest a relationship between sudden onset and widespread distribution of seborrheic keratoses on one hand and presence of a malignancy internally on the other.

Keywords : Leser-Trélat sign; Seborrheic keratosis; Myth.