A 45-year-old alcoholic man presents with tense blisters and milia over sun-exposed dorsum of hands, with hypertrichosis of the temples. Biopsy of a lesion shows a cell-poor subepidermal blister with PAS-positive hyaline material thickening dermal papillae and vessel walls, and eosinophilic elongated structures in the blister roof. These structures are called:

• A Civatte bodies
• B Verocay bodies
• C Corps ronds
• D Caterpillar bodies ✓

Explanation

Caterpillar bodies are elongated eosinophilic PAS-positive deposits of basement membrane material hanging from the roof of the blister, characteristic of porphyria cutanea tarda. Additional findings include festooning of the dermal papillae into the blister cavity and hyalinization of dermal vessels. Civatte bodies belong to lichen planus, corps ronds to Darier disease, and Verocay bodies to schwannoma, so each distractor points to an unrelated entity.

Reference: Robbins and Cotran Pathologic Basis of Disease, 10th ed.

High-yield for: NEET PGINI-CETNExTFMGEUSMLEPLABMRCP

Written and medically reviewed by the StethoPrep medical team.