Metastatic Basal Cell Carcinoma: Report of a Case Presenting with Respiratory Failure

• Published in: The American journal of the medical sciences 1991-06, Vol.301 (6), p.395-397
• Main Authors: Degner, Rex A., Kerley, Spencer W., Mcgregor, Douglas H., Dixon, Anita Y.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Basal cell carcinoma; Biological and medical sciences; Carcinoma, Basal Cell - diagnosis; Carcinoma, Basal Cell - drug therapy; Carcinoma, Basal Cell - pathology; Dermatology; Female; Fluorouracil - therapeutic use; Humans; Lung - pathology; Lung Neoplasms - pathology; Lung Neoplasms - secondary; Male; Medical sciences; Metastatic carcinoma; Middle Aged; Neoplasm Metastasis - pathology; Pleura - pathology; Pleural Effusion; Respiratory Insufficiency - etiology; Respiratory Insufficiency - pathology; Skin Neoplasms - diagnosis; Skin Neoplasms - drug therapy; Skin Neoplasms - pathology; Tumors of the skin and soft tissue. Premalignant lesions
• ISSN: 0002-9629; 1538-2990
• DOI: 10.1097/00000441-199106000-00008

Metastasis from basal cell carcinoma (BCC) of skin is rare. A case of a 58-year-old male presenting with increasing shortness of breath and right pleural effusion is described. Open right pleural biopsy demonstrated metastatic carcinoma consistent with BCC. Review of medical records from another hospital revealed that four years previously a recurrent BCC had been excised from the left back. One and three years prior to this excision, a skin lesion at this same site had been treated with electrocautery. Review of the skin excision slides demonstrated infiltrating BCC histologically very similar to the metastatic pleural neoplasm. The patient died two months after the pleural biopsy. At autopsy, the cutaneous BCC had not recurred and metastatic BCC extensively infiltrated the pleura bilaterally, with focal involvement of underlying lung parenchyma, subcarinal lymph nodes, diaphragm, and pericardium.