Neuroendocrine carcinoma (trabecular carcinoma) of the skin with ectopic acth production

✍ Scribed by Hiroshi Iwasaki; Tetsuji Mitsui; Masahiro Kikuchi; Tamaki Imai; Katsuhiko Fukushima

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1981
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 467 KB
• Volume: 48
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0008-543X
• DOI: 10.1002/1097-0142(19810801)48:3<753::aid-cncr2820480315>3.0.co;2-9

✦ Synopsis

A case of ACTH-producing cutaneous neuroendocrine carcinoma occurring in the cheek of an 80-yearold woman is reported. The tumor was composed of undifferentiated cells which had a uniform round nucleus and scanty cytoplasm containing argyrophil granules. An ultrastructural study demonstrated neurosecretory-type granules in the cytoplasm of the tumor cells. Radioimmunoassay revealed an elevated level of ACTH in the tumor tissue as well as in the plasma of the patient. This is believed to be the first documented case of ACTH-producing neuroendocrine carcinoma (trabecular carcinoma) of the skin.

Cancer 48753-756,1981.

LTHOUGH polypeptide hormone-producing neo-

A plasms or apudomas have been found frequently in the pancreas, the gastrointestinal tract, the respiratory tract, and the thyroid gland,2-4*9,10 no such lesions in the skin have been reported in the literature, with the exception of one case of malignant melanoma of the skin with ectopic production of ACTH.' This paper presents the results of electron microscopic and endocrinologic studies performed on an ACTH-secreting cutaneous neoplasm, with a discussion on its histogenesis.

Materials and Methods

Biopsied tumor tissues from the primary skin lesion and the metastatic submandibular node were immediately divided into three parts after their removal and studied.

Tissue for electron microscopy was fixed in 3% glutaraldehyde in 0.1 M cacodylate buffer, postfixed in 1% buffered osmium tetroxide, dehydrated with graded al-~~