Atypical primary carcinoid tumour of the skin

We present a new case of a primary carcinoid tumour of the skin. The mitotic index (4/10 HPF) warrants classification of this case as atypical. The patient was a 58-year-old woman with a 1-year history of a mass on the scalp. Literature review showed this to be only the seventh case of primary carcinoid tumour of the skin. Importantly, the evolution has been favourable in all seven tumours, with a mean follow-up of 2.5 years for the previous six cases. Although the number of cases is too small to draw definitive conclusions, information to date suggests that this type of tumour can be expected to have a benign behaviour, despite the presence in some cases of criteria suggestive of uncertainty, such as the presence of mitosis.