Pancreatic carcinoma with skin metastases is rare. This paper describes two cases with metastatic skin cancer originally from pancreatic carcinoma.
Case 1: A 45-year-old male had a reddish nodule on his scalp and subcutaneous nodules on his trunk. Biopsy specimen showed solid proliferation of adenocarcinoma cells. After admission, examination of the entire body led to discover pancreatic carcinoma in the pancreatic body.
Case 2: A 55-year- old male had subcutaneous nodules on his scalp, neck, arms and trunk. Pathological study showed solid proliferation of adenocarcinoma cells in the subcutaneous fat tissue. Examination of the entire body showed pancreatic carcinoma in the pancreatic tail. Multiple metastases of both lungs and the liver were also detected.
Reported eight cases of skin metastasis of pancreatic carcinoma in Japan during the period between 1985 and 1994, as well as presently reported two cases, showed that in all cases skin metastases were discovered prior to the detection of original tumor, implying clinical characteristics of such metastatic skin tumors.
