To investigate clinical manifestations and histopathological features of cutaneous metastasis of malignant visceral tumors, to improve diagnosis of cutaneous metastasis of malignant visceral tumors.

A total of 50 patients with cutaneous metastasis of malignant visceral tumors were enrolled from Shanghai Skin Disease Hospital between January 2012 and June 2018, and the features of the skin lesions, source of tumors, histological and immunohistochemical features were retrospectively analyzed.

There were 24 males and 26 females among the 50 patients, with an average age of 67.0 years (range, 28 - 93 years) . The average duration from the notice of cutaneous metastasis of malignant visceral tumors to the first clinic visit was 4.4 months (range, 2 weeks - 13 months) . Cutaneous metastasis of malignant visceral tumors mostly occurred on the chest (16 cases) , followed by the lower limbs (7 cases) , the head and neck (5 cases) , the back (5 cases) , the abdomen (4 cases) , the external genitalia (4 cases) and the upper limbs (3 cases) . Cutaneous metastasis of malignant visceral tumors simultaneously or successively occurred on multiple sites in 6 cases. The most common skin lesion was solitary lump (35 cases, 70%) , followed by multiple papules and nodules (13 cases, 26%) , infiltrative plaques (1 case, 2%) and non-infiltrative erythema (1 case, 2%) . The most common types of primary cancers were breast cancer (11 cases, 22%) , lung cancer (9 cases, 18%) and gastric cancer (6 cases, 12%) , and the most common histological types were adenocarcinoma (32 cases, 64%) and squamous cell carcinoma (8 cases, 16%) .

Cutaneous metastasis of malignant visceral tumors mostly occur in the elderly and on the chest. The most common skin lesion was solitary lump. Breast carcinoma, lung cancer and gastric cancer are the most common primary tumors, and adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma are the most common histological types.

Neoplasm metastasis; Skin; Skin manifestations; Pathologic processes