LIPID STUDIES IN XANTHOMA

Abstract

The relation of cholesterol to the cutaneous xanthomas apparently dates from the demonstration in the local lesions of crystals of cholesterol described in 1869 by Bazin,¹ and later corroborated by Mallassez² and Quinquaud.³ The demonstration by Chauffard and Laroche⁴ and by others of a marked increase in the cholesterol content of the blood of patients having xanthomatous lesions has led to the view that the tumors in the skin and elsewhere are directly the result from one cause or another of a marked hypercholesterolemia. The cause of this hypercholesterolemia has been variously ascribed to injury of the liver, pancreatic disease, diabetes and various other forms of constitutional diseases leading to disorders of fat metabolism. If all cases of so-called xanthomatosis were uniformly associated with a coexistent or preexistent increase in cholesterol in the blood, the case for the cause and effect between the two might seem