Necrobiotic xanthogranuloma of the chest wall

Necrobiotic xanthogranuloma is a rare disease that usually presents with indurated yellow red nodules or plaques in the dermis or subdermal tissues. The pathogenesis of this disease is unknown and the limited number of cases has made long-term studies difficult. We report the case of a 61-year-old woman seen in our office for a 5 x 5-cm lesion of her chest wall. Biopsies established a diagnosis of necrobiotic xanthogranuloma. The patient received 4 months of intralesional steroid injections without change in the lesion. The patient was also treated with colchicine for several months without improvement. Therefore, the lesion was surgically excised and the area was reconstructed with local advancement skin flaps. The patient has been followed for 2 years with no evidence of recurrence.