Mucinous carcinoma of the skin
Long-standing translucent tumor on the groin.
García-Doval I, De la Torre C, Losada A, Toribio J, Cruces-Prado MJ.

Hospital Provincial de Pontevedra. Spain.

Discussion

Mucinous carcinoma of the skin is a rare cutaneous neoplasm.[1-3] The following are its main characteristics:

Main clinical features:[2,3]
Main histopathological features:[2,3,7]

Our case shows some peculiarities. It is in an infrequent location (10f mucinous carcinomas are in the inguinal region). It was associated with multiple basal cell carcinomas and Bowen's disease, without clinical or laboratory signs of arsenicism, nevoid basal cell carcinoma syndrome or xeroderma pigmentosum. Another outstanding feature is the evolution over thirty-five years, which speaks in favor of a benign prognosis. A trend for local recurrence has been noted.

Histogenesis:[1]

The histogenenesis of mucinous carcinoma of the skin is debated. An apocrine origin seems more likely. Various arguments that favor an apocrine or ecrine origin, are summarized:

Apocrine origin:[7]
Ecrine origin:

References

1. Lennox B, Pearse AGE, Richards HGH. Mucin-secreting tumors of the skin: with special reference to the so-called mixed-salivary tumour of the skin and its relation to hidradenoma. J Pathol Bacteriol 1952; 64: 865-80.

2. Karimipour DJ, Johnson TM, Kang S, Wang TS, Lowe L. Mucinous carcinoma of the skin. J Am Acad Dermatol 1996; 34: 323-6.

3. González-Vela MC, Mira Soto MC, Val-Bernal JF. [Mucinous carcinoma of the scalp. Immunohistochemical study and review of the literature]. Actas Dermosifiliogr. 1997; 88: 270-5.

4. Pilgrim JP, Wolfish PS, Kloss SG, Heng MCY. Primary mucinous carcinoma of the skin with metastases to the lymph nodes. Am J Dermatopathol 1985; 7: 461-9.

5. Snow SN, Reizner GT. Mucinous eccrine carcinoma of the eyelid. Cancer 1992; 70: 2099-104.

6. Weber PJ, Hevia O, Gretzula JC, Rabinovitz HC. Primary mucinous carcinoma. J Dermatol Surg Oncol 1998; 14: 170-2.

7. Requena L, Kiryu H, Ackerman AB. Ackerman´s Histopathologic diagnosis of Neoplastic Skin Diseases. Neoplasms with Apocrine Differentiation. Philadelphia: Lippincott-Raven Publishers, 1998: 907-47.

8. Santa Cruz DJ, Meyers J, Gnepp DR, Pérez B. Primary mucinous carcinoma of the skin. Br J Dermatol 1978; 98: 645-53.

9. Carson HJ, Gattuso P, Raslan WF, Reddy V. Mucinous carcinoma of the eyelid. An immunohistochemical study. Am J Dermatopathol 1995; 17: 494-8.

10. Headington JT. Primary mucinous carcinoma of the skin: histochemistry and electron microscopy. Cancer 1977; 39:1055-63.

11. Fukamizu H, Tomita K, Inoue K, Takigawa M. Primary mucinous carcinoma of the skin. J Dermatol Surg Oncol 1993; 19: 625-8.

12. Muramatsu T, Takagi K, Yashiki A, Sakurai S, Honoki K, Shirai T. Mucinous carcinoma of the skin. Br J Dermatol 1995; 133: 820-1.