Eruptive disseminated superficial basal cell carcinomas 24 years after bone marrow transplantation

Secondary cutaneous malignancies are often reported after treatment of malignant haemopathies using allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT). Within the spectrum of such secondary skin carcinomas, basal cell carcinomas (BCC) appear the most frequent. We report here the case of a 67- year-old male patient who developed 24 years after BMT more than 40 superficial BCC as well as a few nodular BCC. These tumours were mainly found on the lower limbs at sites without sun exposure. The patient was treated with surgical excision of nodular BCC while photodynamic therapy was used for the superficial BCC. No recurrences were reported at 5-year follow-up. To our knowledge, this is the first case of a patient presenting eruptive and non-recurring BCC so long after BMT. Only two similar cases have been reported in other circumstances. There is no clear explanation to this peculiar non-recurrence. We speculate that repair of DNA mutations may have occurred.