Case report: A rare case of eccrine carcinoma

Sweat gland carcinoma is very rare with a reported incidence of less than 0.005% of all tumour specimens resected surgically (Tulenko and Conway, 1965) [1].

A sixty year old male patient presented to us with a solitary swelling over the left chest wall since two months.

Cutaneous apocrine gland carcinoma, a subtype of sweat gland carcinoma, is a very rare malignant neoplasm arising in areas of high apocrine sweat gland density. The variability of the histological features even in the same tumour, and its rarity, have contributed to some confusion regarding the classification of sweat gland carcinoma.

Sweat gland carcinomas are a rare group of tumours with potential for local destruction as well as distant metastasis. Wide surgical excision along with regional lymph node dissection in the presence of clinically positive nodes is the recommended treatment. However, a frequent follow up is essential to detect early recurrence as well as distant metastasis.