Digestive Diseases and Sciences

, Volume 54, Issue 12, pp 2754–2757 | Cite as

Multiple Tiny Ectopic Sebaceous Glands Discovered Throughout Entire Esophageal Tract

Case Report
First Online:
Received:
Accepted:

Abstract

A 45-year-old woman complaining of abdominal fullness was referred for endoscopic examination. She was a non-smoker and non-drinker. An endoscopic examination revealed the presence of more than 100 tiny, rounded, elevated, yellowish lesions < 0.5 mm in diameter scattered throughout the upper and lower esophagus. Based on the endoscopic examination results, her stomach manifested symptoms of mildly superficial gastritis. Histopathologic examination of the esophagus biopsy specimen revealed that some of the lobules of the cells displayed typical sebaceous differentiation covered by a squamous epithelium. No evidence of inflammatory reaction, hair follicles, or malignancy was found. The patient’s blood and serum findings were unremarkable. Our final diagnosis was multiple tiny ectopic sebaceous glands in the esophagus. This is an interesting and rare case of esophageal sebaceous glands distributed throughout the entire esophagus. Because there were no esophageal symptoms or/and eating problems, the patient did not require endoscopic surgery or other treatment. Follow-up examinations were recommended at intervals between 6 months and 1 year. At the 2-year follow-up, an endoscopic examination revealed no change in the size or the number of the tiny ectopic esophageal sebaceous glands.

Keywords

Ectopic sebaceous glands Endoscopy Esophagus Multiple 
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

Notes

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank our staff at the Endoscopy and Ultrasound Section in the Department of Internal Medicine and Pathology at SinLau Hospital’s Madou Branch.

References

  1. 1.
    Bernal Balaez A, Moreira Diaz E, Rodriguez Perez I, Rosabal Lopez T. Prevalence of ectopic sebaceous glands in the oral mucosa in the population over 20 years of age in the city of Havana. Rev Cubana Estomatol. 1984;21:165–170.PubMedGoogle Scholar
  2. 2.
    Trodahl JN, Albjerg LE, Gorlin RJ. Ectopic sebaceous glands of the tongue. Arch Dermatol. 1967;95:387–389. doi: 10.1001/archderm.95.4.387.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  3. 3.
    Hayashi S, Mori I, Nonoyama T. Spontaneous proliferative lesions in the nasopharyngeal meatus of F344 rats. Toxicol Pathol. 1998;26:419–427.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  4. 4.
    Ramien M, Ruocco I, Cuello AC, St-Louis M, Ribeiro-Da-Silva A. Parasympathetic nerve fibers invade the upper dermis following sensory denervation of the rat lower lip skin. J Comp Neurol. 2004;469:83–95. doi: 10.1002/cne.10998.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  5. 5.
    Bertoni G, Sassatelli R, Nigrisoli E, Conigliaro R, Bedogni G. Ectopic sebaceous glands in the esophagus: report of three new cases and review of the literature. Am J Gastroenterol. 1994;89:1884–1887.PubMedGoogle Scholar
  6. 6.
    Polimeni FP, Rossi JR, de Araujo VC, de Araujo NS. Ectopic sebaceous glands in mouth mucosa. Rev Assoc Paul Cir Dent. 1977;31:132–137.Google Scholar
  7. 7.
    Batistatou A, Panelos J, Zioga A, Charalabopoulos KA. Ectopic modified sebaceous glands in human penis. Int J Surg Pathol. 2006;14:355–356. doi: 10.1177/1066896906291779.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  8. 8.
    Belousova IE, Kazakov DV, Michal M. Ectopic sebaceous glands in the vagina. Int J Gynecol Pathol. 2005;24:193–195. doi: 10.1097/01.PGP.0000155031.14510.E6.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  9. 9.
    Ferran M, Tribo MJ, Gonzalez-Rivero MA, Alameda F, Pujol RM. Congenital hamartoma of the scalp with meningothelial, sebaceous, muscular, and immature glandular components. Am J Dermatopathol. 2007;29:568–572.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  10. 10.
    Leist P, Schonberger A. On the occurrence of ectopic sebaceous glands in the oral mucosa (Fordyce’s disease). Dtsch Stomatol. 1967;17:754–762.PubMedGoogle Scholar
  11. 11.
    De La Pava S, Pickren JW. Ectopic sebaceous glands in the esophagus. Arch Pathol. 1962;73:397–399.Google Scholar
  12. 12.
    Marcial MA, Villafana M. Esophageal ectopic sebaceous glands: endoscopic and histologic findings. Gastrointest Endosc. 1994;40:630–632.PubMedGoogle Scholar
  13. 13.
    Ramakrishnan T, Brinker JE. Ectopic sebaceous glands in the esophagus. Gastrointest Endosc. 1978;24:293–294.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  14. 14.
    Hoshika K, Inoue S, Mizuno M, Iida M, Shimizu M. Endoscopic detection of ectopic multiple minute sebaceous glands in the esophagus. Report of a case and review of the literature. Dig Dis Sci. 1995;40:287–290. doi: 10.1007/BF02065411.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  15. 15.
    Saint-Blancard P, Hervouet M. Ectopic sebaceous glands in the esophagus. Gastroenterol Clin Biol. 2008;32:192–194. doi: 10.1016/j.gcb.2007.09.001.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  16. 16.
    Wei IF, Chang CC, Fang CL, et al. Education and imaging. Gastrointestinal: ectopic sebaceous glands in the esophagus. J Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2008;23:338. doi: 10.1111/j.1440-1746.2007.05303.x.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  17. 17.
    Harada A, Tatsumi Y, Matsumoto T, Tani T, Nishida H, Katsura K. Ectopic sebaceous glands. Gastrointest Endosc. 2004;60:97. doi: 10.1016/S0016-5107(04)01296-9.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  18. 18.
    Monteil RA. Fordyce’s spots: disease, heterotopia or adenoma? Histological and ultrastructural study. J Biol Buccale. 1981;9:109–128.PubMedGoogle Scholar
  19. 19.
    Tschen JA, Schulze KE, Chiao N. Ectopic sebaceous gland: a developmental anomaly. J Cutan Pathol. 2006;33:519–521. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0560.2006.00465.x.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  20. 20.
    Bull JJ, Pelengaris S, Hendrix S, Chronnell CM, Khan M, Philpott MP. Ectopic expression of c-Myc in the skin affects the hair growth cycle and causes an enlargement of the sebaceous gland. Br J Dermatol. 2005;152:1125–1133. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2133.2005.06458.x.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  21. 21.
    Fathke C, Wilson L, Shah K, et al. Wnt signaling induces epithelial differentiation during cutaneous wound healing. BMC Cell Biol. 2006;7:4. doi: 10.1186/1471-2121-7-4.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar

Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2008

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine, Madou BranchSinLau HospitalMadou TownTaiwan
  2. 2.Department of Veterinary Medicine, College of Veterinary MedicineNational Chung Hsing UniversityTaichung CityTaiwan
  3. 3.Department of Pathology, Madou BranchSinLau HospitalMadou TownTaiwan

Personalised recommendations