Accidental discovery of metastasized basal cell carcinoma

Abstract

Introduction

Metastasis of basal cell carcinoma (BCC) is a very rare finding because the disease is mostly discovered early in development and treated immediately. Moreover, the metastasis percentage is less than 0.5%.

Patient and methods

A 66-year-old man presented to the emergency department after a fall from his bike. He sustained fractures, and a 40-year-old skin lesion was discovered on his back. Histological analysis of a biopsy from the primary lesion, a CT scan, and bone biopsy were performed.

Results

The three tests combined confirmed BCC with metastasis to the liver, lung, and bone. We also systematically eliminated the possibility of other skin lesions, such as squamous cell carcinoma, angiosarcoma, cutaneous lymphoma, and melanoma.

Conclusion

We report an accidental discovery of a rare case of a 40-year-old BCC with multiple distant metastases, resulting in stage IV disease.

Keywords:

• Basal cell carcinoma
• metastasized basal cell carcinoma
• skin cancer
• case report

Acknowledgment

No funding was received to complete this article.

Disclosure statement

NO potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.