Degos disease (also called malignant atrophic papulosis) is an extremely rare vasculopathy that affects the lining of the medium and small veins and arteries, resulting in occlusion (blockage of the vessel) and tissue infarction.

The disease is named for Robert Degos who recognized it as a clinical entity in 1942, after it was first described by Kohlmeier in 1941.

What is Degos ?

Degos Disease seems to be a disease of the blood vessels - a thrombotic vasculopathy.

Cells in the linings of the walls of the medium and small veins and arteries under the skin swell when they become inflamed.

This causes the blood flow to be restricted.

Scars left after healing. Lesions on foot had coalesced, broken down and ulcerated. Cellulitis developed with MRSA, and treated with Vancomycin. Ulcers eventually healed after 5 months with daily applications of Manuka honey and then neat Vitamin E (D-Alpha-tocopherol). Scars are sensitive and severe neurological pain has occurred at intervals, treated with Ketamine.

Scars left after healing. Lesions on foot had coalesced, broken down and ulcerated. Cellulitis developed with MRSA, and treated with Vancomycin. Ulcers eventually healed after 5 months with daily applications of Manuka honey and then neat Vitamin E (D-Alpha-tocopherol). Scars are sensitive and severe neurological pain has occurred at intervals, treated with Ketamine.

Smaller groups of lesions, now about 8 years old - all scars and no sensitivity at all.

Lesions about 8 years old. Many have coalesced. Some still become inflamed but most are now scars. The white atrophic centres are flaky.

Lesions about 8 years old. Many have coalesced. Some still become inflamed but most are now scars. The white atrophic centres are flaky.

Where this happens ?

spots (lesions) appear on the skin. They are small and red, slightly raised.

As they develop, the centre becomes dry and white (atrophic). Sometimes the spots itch.

The blood vessels affected include those supplying the skin, gastrointestinal tract, and central nervous system. This can result in bowel ischemia (mesenteric ischemia or ischemic colitis), chronic skin lesions, ocular lesions, strokes, spinal lesions, mononeuritis multiplex, epilepsy, headaches or cognitive disorders. Pleural or pericardial effusions are also reported.

The outcome of this disease can be fatal with a median survival of 2 to 3 years, although some appear to have a benign form (Degos acanthoma) which affects only the skin. There are fewer than fifty living patients at present known worldwide, and less than 200 reported in the medical literature. Treatment options are limited, consist mainly of Antiplatelet drugs or anticoagulants or immunosuppressants, and effect of treatment is limited to case reports.

Sometimes the disease affects blood vessels in other parts of the body. Most commonly, the gut, the central nervous system or the eyes are involved.

Most case histories in the medical literature are of ‘worst case’ scenarios.

Don't get panic?

You will read statistics and numbers which might scare you - but they are often based on projections and on published case reports. There are lots of Degos patients whose cases haven’t been written up and who are alive and well.

There are also lots of confident assertions which just aren’t true! For example: “This disease affects mainly young men” - not in our experience! Or “The lesions don’t appear on the soles of the feet” - wrong again! Percentages and actual numbers can’t be right, as no-one has compared living patients until now. Take it all with a pinch of salt and add your experience to our site and to the data being collected in Dessau,Germany.

Other names for Degos disease are:

• Malignant atrophic papulosis
• Köhlmeier - Degos disease
• Köhlmeier disease
• Degos - Köhlmeier disease
• Degos disease
• Degos syndrome
• Erythrokeratoderma en cocardes
• Thromboangiitis obliterans

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Dressed in a suit, this person would not look out of place in a busy street in a modern city.

The clay sculpture, however, portrays the face of the earliest known modern European - a man or woman who hunted deer and gathered fruit and herbs in ancient forests more than 35,000 years ago.

It was created by Richard Neave, one of Britain's leading forensic scientists, using fossilised fragments of skull and jawbone found in a cave seven years ago.

The first modern European: Forensic artist Richard Neave reconstructed the face based on skull fragments from 35,000 years ago

His recreation offers a tantalising glimpse into life before the dawn of civilisation. It also shows the close links between the first European settlers and their immediate African ancestors.

To sculpt the head, Mr Neave called on his years of experience recreating the appearance of murder victims as well as using careful measurements of bone.

It was made for the BBC2 series The Incredible Human Journey. This will follow the evolution of humans from the cradle of Africa to the waves of migrations that saw Homo sapiens colonise the globe.

The head has taken pride of place on the desk of Alice Roberts, an anthropologist at Bristol University, who presents the programme.

'It's really quite bizarre,' she told Radio Times. 'I'm a scientist and objective but I look at that face and think "Gosh, I'm looking at the face of somebody from 40,000 years ago" and there's something weirdly moving about that.

'Richard creates skulls of much more recent humans and he's used to looking at differences between populations.

'He said the skull doesn't look European or Asian or African. It looks like a mixture of all of them.

'That's probably what you'd expect of someone among the earliest populations to come to Europe.'

Anthropologist Alice Roberts with the model: 'I look at that face and think "I'm actually looking at the face of somebody from 40,000 years ago"', she says

The head is based on remains of one of the earliest known anatomically modern Europeans.

The lower jawbone was discovered by potholers in the Carpathian mountains in Romania in 2002. The rest of the fragments were found the following year.

The bones were carbon-dated to between 34,000 and 36,000 years ago when Europe was occupied by two species of human.

They were the Neanderthals, who had arrived from Africa tens of thousands of years earlier, and the more recent modern humans, also known as Cro-Magnons.

Although the skull is similar to a modern human head, it has a larger cranium, is more robust and has larger molars. Although it is impossible to work out the skin colour of the prehistoric hunter, it is likely to have been darker than modern white Europeans.

Fossil experts are also unsure if the skull was male or female.

Many scientists believe that modern humans evolved in Africa 200,000 to 100,000 years ago. Our ancestors left Africa around 60,000 years ago and migrated around the world, replacing other branches of the family tree which had left the continent earlier.

The earliest modern Europeans were far from primitive. Living in huts and caves, they used stone tools and spears made from antlers, painted on the walls of their caves and made jewellery from shells.

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These dolls are all heart - and lungs, eyeballs and brains. David Foox, an artist based in Denver, Colorado, has created a collection of organ donor dolls.

Inspired by his Uncle Ken's double lung transplant, Foox designed the dolls which have nine different organs as heads and come in 24 different colourways. Some are rarer than others.

Pictured above are the heart donor dolls, with the rare Purple Heart in a camouflage hospital gown, and Lionheart in a St George's cross.

The standard kidney donor doll, and the limited edition Black Market Kidney doll.

Four different lung dolls, including Smoker's Lungs, Iron Lungs and Invincible Lungs.

Liver donor dolls, including the Pickled Liver doll on the left and the Lecter on the right.

The regular brain doll and the Nuclear Thinker.

Eye/cornea transplant dolls.

Plasma dolls. The one on the left is called Eye of the Stormive.

Stem cells. Each doll wears an ill-fitting hospital gown, open at the back.

White and red blood cells. If you'd like to own these Organ Donor dolls, you can order them here. The dolls are sold in "blind" boxes, meaning you won't know which organ you will receive

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