[Metastasizing eccrine porocarcinoma]

We report on an 84-year-old female patient who presented with abundant firm skin nodules and massive lymphoedema restricted to the left leg. Metastasizing eccrine porocarcinoma was diagnosed by the unusual circumscribed pattern of the cutaneous metastases and the histological detection of intraepidermal and intradermal PAS-positive tumour cells. This diagnosis was established by the histopathological reexamination of a small skin tumour on the left ankle, which had been misinterpreted as actinic keratosis 5 years before. The initiated local radiation therapy with fast neurons and cobalt-60 resulted in partial regression of the cutaneous metastases and lymphoedema, but was not able to hamper the fatal outcome directly resulting from tumour cachexia.