Enlargement and hardening of body parts due to swelling
Medical condition
Elephantiasis, often incorrectly calledelephantitis, is the enlargement and hardening of limbs or body parts due to tissue swelling (edema).[1][2] It is characterised by edema,hypertrophy, andfibrosis of skin and subcutaneous tissues, due to obstruction oflymphatic vessels (lymphedema).[2] It may affect the genitalia.[2] The term elephantiasis is often used in reference to symptoms caused by parasitic worm infections,[1][2] but may refer to a variety of diseases that swell parts of the subject's body to exceptionally massive proportions.[2]
Some conditions that present with elephantiasis include the following:
- Elephantiasis nostras, due to longstanding chroniclymphangitis.[citation needed]
- Elephantiasis tropica (known as lymphatic filariasis), caused by a number of parasitic worms, particularlyWuchereria bancrofti. More than 120 million people, mostly in Africa and Southeast Asia, are affected.[3]
- Nonfilarial elephantiasis (or podoconiosis), an immune disease affecting the lymph vessels[citation needed]
- Leishmaniasis[2]
- Elephantiasis, Grade 3lymphedema, which may occur in people withbreast cancer[4]
- Genital elephantiasis, result oflymphogranuloma venereum[citation needed]
- Proteus syndrome, a genetic disorder best known as the condition possibly experienced byJoseph Merrick, the so-called Elephant Man[citation needed]
Other causes may include the following:
Other diseases, such as the rareKlippel–Trénaunay syndrome, can initially be misdiagnosed as elephantiasis.
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