Local recurrence of a primary carcinoid of the skin: a first case report

Primary carcinoid tumors of the skin are exceptional, with only ten cases reported from 1975 to date. We describe a case of a 66-year-old woman with a primary cutaneous carcinoid developed on the scalp. The tumor was completely excised and clinical investigations as well as diagnostic studies failed to reveal internal primary site, neither at the time of the excision, neither during follow-up. Nevertheless, 7 years after the surgical excision, she developed a recurrence of the lesion on the same site. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of a primary relapsing carcinoid of the skin described up to now. Interestingly, the tumour expresses estroprogestinic receptors.