[Cutaneous prickle-cell epitheliomas and visceral cancer]

We have studied the incidence of internal malignant neoplasms on patients with squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). This incidence has been compared to expected number of malignant neoplasm in that population by a precise statistical analysis. Two-hundred and eighty-three SCC confirmed by histology are diagnosed on 235 patients (159 men, 76 women). These patients have been followed between December 1970 and November 1982 at the specialized consultation on cutaneous tumors. We have examined all these patients, questioned their doctors, consulted their medical case history, to search an internal malignant neoplasm. Twenty-eight patients had a malignant neoplasm: this malignant tumor has been found 11 times before and 17 times at the same time or after SCC. These 17 malignant neoplasms are the only statistically interesting cases. The annual incidence of malignant neoplasms related to age and sex has been evaluated by consulting French registers. The French incidence has been compared to foreign incidences. This incidence enables us to calculate the expected observed numbers (12 and 5). The expected numbers are 9.15 for men and 2.1 for women. These numbers are not statistically different from observed numbers (12 and 5). The incidence of internal malignant neoplasms on patients with SCC is not different from the incidence of general population.