Background: Several cutaneous tumors are characteristically associated with considerable and sometimes incapacitating pain.
Objective: A review of the histologic features of these tumors, subjective characteristics of the pain, hypotheses proposed to explain the mechanism of pain production by the tumor, and treatments that have been effective in abolishing or relieving the patient's perception of the stimulus.
Methods: Review of case reports as well as studies that have proposed mechanisms of pain production based on histologic, electron microscopic, and pharmacologic studies.
Results: Several hypotheses may be equally valid in explaining the cause of pain of a single tumor type, while no apparent cause is found in other types of tumors. There is variability in the success of a treatment between patients.
Conclusion: Our understanding of the mechanism of pain production by cutaneous tumors is limited by the small number of studies (and sample size) addressing the issue as well as by our incomplete general understanding of pain production.