Prognosis and Treatment of Metastatic Skin Cancers

Abstract

We retrospectively investigated the clinical characteristics and prognosis in 260 cases of metastatic skin cancer. The common primary cancer sites were breast (86 cases, 33%) and lung (76 cases, 29%). In 17% of cases, skin metastases preceded the diagnosis of the original cancer.

The median survival time (MST) after the diagnosis of skin metastases was 7 months. MST for breast cancer (56 months) was significantly longer than in other cases because of its originally good prognosis. None of the prognostic factors, including the number of skin metastases (multiple vs single), the timing of cancer diagnosis (skin metastases vs primary cancer), and treatment for skin metastases (curative resection vs palliative resection) significantly affect survival. We condude that the main purpose for treating metastatic skin cancer is to maintain the quality of a patient's life.