Cutaneous adnexal malignancies are biologically and pathologically diverse, and associated with a range of clinical outcomes. Given their rarity, the prognosis and optimal treatment of these neoplasms remains unclear. A single institution database from a tertiary care cancer center of patients treated for malignant cutaneous adnexal tumors was retrospectively analyzed. Clinicopathologic variables and outcome measures were analyzed in patients undergoing wide excision with or without sentinel node biopsy. 103 patients were analyzed; the majority of tumors were of eccrine sweat gland derivation (n = 69, 70%), and these exhibited a higher rate of nodal involvement and overall worse outcome. Sixteen patients (16%) demonstrated nodal metastasis, which included 10 (10%) with nodal disease at presentation and 6 who developed nodal metastasis during followup. 20 patients underwent sentinel node biopsy, and 2 (10%) had a positive sentinel node. 62% of nodal metastases occurred in patients with porocarcinoma. Seven patients died of disease (7%) with a median time from diagnosis to death of 48 months (range, 10-174). After a median follow up of 44.7 months, age > 70 years and larger tumor size were significantly associated with worse overall survival. Adnexal malignancies are rare tumors, and there is a paucity of information to guide the clinician in determining optimum surgical and medical treatment. Tumors of eccrine derivation, especially porocarcinomas, have a high risk of nodal involvement and may be considered for sentinel node biopsy.
Keywords: Cutaneous adnexal neoplasms; Eccrine carcinoma; Sentinel lymph node biopsy.