[Metatypical carcinoma. Apropos of 4 cases]

The authors describe the anatomopathological, clinical and evolutive characteristics of the metatypical carcinoma, based on four cases and on the existing literature. Evolution of these tumors, with a maxillo-facial preferential location, is usually longer than for other cutaneous carcinomas. Cases presented in this article illustrate the severity of such lesions, whose treatment requires extensive amputations and rather unusual reconstruction procedures.