Differential considerations of skin tumours with florid vascularisation: report of a solitary giant vascular eccrine spiradenoma

• Published in: BMJ Case Reports 2011, Vol.2011
• Main Authors: Tremezaygues, Lea Louisa, Pföhler, Claudia, Vogt, Thomas, Müller, Cornelia SL
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1757-790X
• DOI: 10.1136/bcr.05.2011.4187

The authors report the case of an 81-year-old male who presented with a 3-year-history of a bluish, nodular tumour located on the extensor side of his right forearm. Subjective symptoms included tenderness upon palpation and spontaneous haemorrhage. In order to exclude malignant neoplasms, for example, nodular melanoma, metastatic melanoma or angiosarcoma, the tumour was surgically removed and tissue submitted for microscopic examination. Histologically, the authors diagnosed this as giant vascular eccrine spiradenoma, a rare variant of eccrine spiradenoma, which can easily be mistaken for angiomatous lesions due to the haemorrhagic features and florid vascularisation. It is our aim to help clarify the diagnosis and differentiate giant vascular eccrine spiradenoma from other painful cutaneous tumours exhibiting a high degree of vascularisation, for example, angiosarcoma or venous thrombosis, as this case represents one of only seven found in published literature.