Case Report and Review of Eccrine Porocarcinoma in Skin of Color

Abstract

Skin cancers are often misdiagnosed or diagnosed late in skin of color (Fitzpatrick types 4-6) resulting in increased morbidity and mortality. Rare skin cancers such as Eccrine Porocarcinoma (EPC), which accounts for 0.005% to 0.01% of all epidermal skin neoplasms, are even less likely to be accurately diagnosed in skin of color.  Eccrine Porocarcinoma  is often misdiagnosed as Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), Basal Cell Carcinoma (BCC),  melanoma, and seborrheic keratosis. The paucity of case reports of EPC in skin of color adds to the challenge of achieving accurate, timely diagnosis and treatment in this patient population. The purpose of this research is to review case reports of EPC documented in skin of color, highlighting salient clinical and histopathological characteristics of EPC, and to describe an additional case of EPC in skin of color that was initially misdiagnosed as seborrheic keratosis. Our search combined “eccrine porocarcinoma” and one of the following terms: “ethnic skin”, “skin of color”, “black”, “dark skin”, “African American”, “Indian”, “Native American”, “Asian”, “Hispanic”, “Indigenous Peoples”, “Middle Eastern” —as these tend to correspond with Fitzpatrick IV – VI types. Google scholar, PubMed, and Ovid MedLine Databases were used to search for articles. Case reports ranging from 1994 to present day were included in analysis.