Skin metastases: three-year study of 50 cases in a university center

Abstract

Introduction. Skin metastases are rare metastases of internal or cutaneous tumors, commonly diagnosed after the primary cancer. Sometimes, they can be the first manifestation of a malignancy. Cutaneous metastases associate a poor prognosis for the patient and the survival rate decreases considerably. The objective of the study was to analyze the clinico-epidemiological and histological characteristics of skin metastases, in order to better understand different types of malignancies and their prognosis, as well as to highlight the particularities of this rare localization of the metastases. Material and methods. We conducted a retrospective study, in which we included 50 cases of skin metastases diagnosed in the Pathology Department of the University Emergency Hospital Bucharest, Romania, over a period of three years. We analyzed the cases from all epidemiological, clinical, gross and histological data, based on the records of the hospital. Results. The patients’ ages ranged from 16 to 92 years old, with a mean age of 60.1 years. Almost half of the patients were females (26 cases). Most of the patients were diagnosed with primary melanoma (17 cases), followed by primary tumors of the gastrointestinal tract (9 cases) and breast carcinomas (8 cases). 29 cases presented with complications, such as ulceration, infection or necrosis. Conclusions. Most of the skin metastases were of malignant melanoma, but any kind of primary tumor can, eventually, disseminate to the skin, conferring a poor prognosis on the patient. Also, any site can be involved, but some malignancies do have preferred areas for dissemination.

Keywords

• skin metastasis
• cutaneous tumors
• malignancy of the skin