[Melanoma malignum en cuirasse]

We report on a 26-year-old male patient suffering from a rapidly progressing sclerodermiform induration and edema on his chest, neck, and face, which was more pronounced on the left side of his body. The disease had developed within two months and took a lethal course. Two months before the disease set on, the patient had removed a bluish nodule from his left axilla. Histopathologic analysis of the indurated skin showed massive infiltration of the fatty tissue by a malign, undifferentiated blastoma. Pathoanatomical investigation revealed a massive metastatic infiltration of the soft tissue in the thoracic area and the fatty tissue, as well as metastases developed in the lymph nodes.