"Pseudorheumatoid" nodules in children: report of 10 cases

Subcutaneous nodules, composed of necrotic collagen surrounded by chronic inflammatory cells, occur in about 20% of individuals with rheumatoid arthritis, 10% of those with acute rheumatic fever, and 25% of children with granuloma annulare. Similar subcutaneous lesions indistinguishable from rheumatoid nodules may appear in children who do not develop other stigmata of disease. Mesara and ous lesions of granuloma annulare. Therefore, they felt that, in children, these nodules probably represented a clinical variant of granuloma annulare. Beatty3 described nine children aged 11 days to 9 years with nodules on the scalp, ulnar aspect of the arm, dorsum of the foot, and palm of the hand which appeared histologically to be rheumatoid nodules.