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Cowden's disease, or multiple hamartoma syndrome, is an uncommon condition with
characteristic mucocutaneous lesions associated with abnormalities of the
breast, thyroid, and gastrointestinal tract. We describe a 32-year-old man with
oral mucosal papillomatosis and plantar hyperkeratosis as a definite case of
Cowden's disease according to the criteria proposed by Salem and Steck. The
patient also had a thyroid mass and numerous gastrointestinal polyps
endoscopically. Histologically the polyps were hamartomatous or hyperplastic
polyps. The oral papillary lesions were fibroepithelial polyps and the thyroid
mass was a follicular adenoma. We review the literature on this entity and
summarize the pertinent findings. To the best of our knowledge, this is the
first documented case of Cowden's disease in a Korean.