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Merkel cell carcinoma, Bowen's disease and chronic occupational arsenic poisoning
Author(s) -
Daisuke Tsuruta,
Toshio Hamada,
Kazunobu Mochida,
Koich Nakagawa,
Hitoshi Kobayashi,
Masamitsu Ishii
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
british journal of dermatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.304
H-Index - 179
eISSN - 1365-2133
pISSN - 0007-0963
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2133.1998.02369.x
Subject(s) - bowen's disease , merkel cell carcinoma , dermatology , medicine , carcinoma , disease , basal cell , pathology
We diagnosed a unique case of Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) coexisting with Bowen's disease on the sole of the foot of a 72‐year‐old man who had worked for about 4 years in a factory handling inorganic arsenic. He had a past history of arsenical keratosis and multiple Bowen's disease. The tumour first appeared as a reddish macule and then showed marked growth over the next month. The tumour was excised and the specimen was examined histopathologically. The tumour consisted of two components: a group of atypical cells representing Bowen's disease in the epidermis and another group of atypical cells with a trabecular pattern characteristic of MCC in the dermis. Neither group of cells showed transitional findings, and the tumour elements were divided by a clear basement membrane. The tumour cells in the dermis were positive for neurone‐specific enolase, and on electron microscopy had dense core granules in the cytoplasm. Inorganic arsenic can cause various cutaneous neoplasms, but to our knowledge, this is the first report of a case of MCC associated with Bowen's disease.