Uterine adenocarcinoma metastatic to the skin responsive to megestrol acetate

Although endometrial carcinoma is the most common gynecological cancer, it only rarely metastasizes to the skin, with a reported prevalence of 0.8%. We report a case of an elderly lady who recently developed cutaneous metastases from an endometrial primary diagnosed 7 years earlier.

Our purpose was to determine if the oral administration of megestrol acetate would be effective in the treatment of uterine adenocarcinoma metastatic to the skin.

The index case was given oral megestrol acetate over a period of 9 months. Pre- and posttreatment skin biopsies were performed and analyzed.

During treatment with megestrol acetate, the cutaneous metastases in the abdominal skin decreased in area to less than 10% of the pretreatment surface area correlating with a marked histopathologic decrease in adenocarcinomatous glandular structures.

Megestrol acetate can be successfully utilized in the treatment of endometrial adenocarcinoma metastatic to the skin as well as ostensibly in the treatment of other progesterone-sensitive metastatic cutaneous carcinomas.