Gallbladder carcinoma presenting as exfoliative dermatitis (erythroderma)

Although exfoliative dermatitis (erythroderma) secondary to malignancy is commonly associated with lymphomas or leukemias, coincident gastrointestinal (GI) malignancy and erythroderma is rare. The authors recently encountered a patient with gallbladder carcinoma presenting as erythroderma. A 77-yr-old Japanese man presented with a 3-mo history of erythematous eruptions with pruritus over almost the entire body. After confirming the diagnosis of erythroderma, asymptomatic gallbladder carcinoma was found. Further investigations detected no malignancies in other organs. An extended cholecystectomy was performed. Histologic examination of resected specimens revealed poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma with negative resection margins. The eruptions with pruritus resolved within 1 wk after the operation. This is the first report, to our knowledge, of coincident biliary malignancy and erythroderma. The experience of the current patient suggests that erythroderma secondary to GI malignancy may resolve spontaneously after curative resection of the tumor.