ABSTRACT
Primary carcinoid tumors of the skin are exceptional, with only ten cases reported from 1975 to date. We describe a case of a 66-year-old woman with a primary cutaneous carcinoid developed on the scalp. The tumor was completely excised and clinical investigations as well as diagnostic studies failed to reveal internal primary site, neither at the time of the excision, neither during follow-up. Nevertheless, 7 years after the surgical excision, she developed a recurrence of the lesion on the same site. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of a primary relapsing carcinoid of the skin described up to now. Interestingly, the tumour expresses estroprogestinic receptors.
Subject(s)
Carcinoid Tumor/diagnosis , Scalp/pathology , Skin Neoplasms/diagnosis , Aged , Carcinoid Tumor/pathology , Carcinoid Tumor/surgery , Female , Follow-Up Studies , Humans , Neoplasm Recurrence, Local , Skin Neoplasms/pathology , Skin Neoplasms/surgeryABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Basal cell carcinomas (BCCs) are common cutaneous neoplasms that mainly affect fair-skinned subjects, in sun-exposed areas of the body. The treatment of choice of BCCs is represented by surgical excision and different techniques are available, in order to allow the complete eradication of the tumor with the best cosmetic results. In this paper, we describe the surgical excision with stained margin technique (SMET) and we report its efficacy for the treatment of BCCs of the head and neck region. METHODS: We retrospectively studied 177 BCCs of the head and neck region treated by SMET: a surgical technique in which each specimen is cut vertically like a bread-loaf in multiple sections of 1 mm of thickness, after marking peripheral margins. RESULTS: We observed an overall recurrence rate of 4.5% after SMET (mean follow-up: 26 months), with higher rate in aggressive subtypes (P=0.04). BCCs located in high-risk sites and those previously undergone to other non-radical therapies required two or more procedures (P=0.008 and P=0.002, respectively), while no correlation was observed between the number of SMET procedures and recurrence rate. CONCLUSIONS: In our experience, since low recurrence rate was obtained by SMET, we suggest that it may be taken into consideration as surgical option for BCCs of the head and neck region.
Subject(s)
Carcinoma, Basal Cell/surgery , Head and Neck Neoplasms/surgery , Margins of Excision , Skin Neoplasms/surgery , Adult , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Carcinoma, Basal Cell/pathology , Female , Head and Neck Neoplasms/pathology , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Neoplasm Recurrence, Local , Retrospective Studies , Skin Neoplasms/pathology , Staining and Labeling/methodsABSTRACT
Darier-White disease (DD) is an autosomal-dominant inherited disease characterized by keratotic papules that are usually located in seborrheic areas. Systemic retinoids generally are first-line treatment in cases of diffuse DD. We report the case of an 84-year-old woman with a hypertrophic variant of DD with acral lesions. Oral retinoids (acitretin) were administered as a first treatment of DD, with good clinical results. After a few months, hemorrhagic vesicles developed on palmoplantar surfaces. Suspension of the therapy led to the disappearance of the cutaneous manifestations.
