Cutaneous and breast metastasis from colorectal adenocarcinoma: A rare case report

Cutaneous Limb Metastasis of Colorectal Cancer Misdiagnosed as Zoster Infection

Cutaneous metastasis is a rare manifestation of internal malignancies. It usually occurs with the later progression of the disease and is associated with a poor prognosis. Common culprits of skin metastasis include lung cancer, melanoma, and colorectal cancer in men and breast cancer, colorectal cancer, and melanoma in women. Given these points, there is a low rate of cutaneous metastasis of colorectal cancer. When present, the most common sites include the abdominal wall and, less frequently, the face and the scalp. Rarely there is cutaneous metastasis to the upper extremity. Herein, we report the case of a female patient in her 50s who presented with a maculopapular rash of the right upper limb four years after her initial diagnosis of colonic adenocarcinoma. However, because of this rare manifestation, she was initially misdiagnosed with more common causes of a maculopapular rash. After a period of no improvement with preliminary treatment, a biopsy with immunohistochemical staining was undertaken, and the specimen stained positive for CK20 and CDX2, confirming metastatic colorectal malignancy. Skin lesions that are not responding to conventional therapy and those which have bizarre presentations can be a harbinger of internal malignancy and should be considered in the differential.

Synchronous "skip" facial metastases from colorectal adenocarcinoma: a case report and review of literature

Background

Skin metastases from colorectal adenocarcinoma are rare conditions that are metachronous in most of cases and may represent the first sign of a recurrence. These lesions are usually located to the abdominal wall on postoperative scars, perineum and chest due to direct spread from the tumor or to the lymphatic and venous dissemination. We describe a rare case of synchronous skin metastases in a patient affected by sigmoid adenocarcinoma with no sign of liver and lung repetitive lesions.

Case presentation

We admitted a 59 years old male, with no relevant medical history. He was evaluated by our tertiary center of colorectal surgery complaining diarrhoea and abdominal pain. The physical examination revealed a palpable mass in left flank of the abdomen. The colonoscopy showed a sub-stenosis of the sigmoid colon (G2 adenocarcinoma). No repetitive lesions were detected by the preoperative CT scan. The patient reported a rapid grow of a soft supralabial and chin nodules in the last 2 months, which he believed to be related to the use of the mask due to COVID-19 pandemic. A laparoscopic left hemicolectomy with complete mesocolic excision and a local excision of both facial nodules were performed. The histological examination revealed a poorly differentiated signet ring cell colorectal adenocarcinoma with metastases in seven pericolic lymphonodes. The excisional biopsy of the skin nodules revealed a subcutaneous metastases from primary colorectal tumour.

Conclusions

As far as we know, synchronous facial metastases from colorectal cancer in the absence of any other metastases has never been described before. The onset of new skin nodules in patients affected by colorectal cancer should raise-up the clinical suspicion of metastatic lesions even when repetitive lesions are not detected in the liver or lungs.