Malignant eccrine poroma in an elderly African-American woman

BACKGROUND. Eccrine porocarcinoma is a rare, slow-growing malignant tumor a rising from the eccrine sweat gland. OBJECTIVE. We present a case of eccrine porocarcinoma of the ear in an elde rly African-American woman. Cases of eccrine porocarcinoma have been report ed in the literature occurring in facial, extremity, scalp, and genital sit es and primarily in Caucasian patients. Rarely are cases described in Afric an-American patients or on the ear. METHODS. We describe the history of the lesion, discuss the current cancer statistics for skin cancer in African Americans, and histology and treatmen t choices are compared with previously reported cases. RESULTS. We present a case of malignant eccrine poroma of the ear in a 71 y ear old African-American woman. The tumor was completely excised by Mohs su rgery. Transposition flap repair of the Mobs surgical defect was performed. CONCLUSIONS. While African Americans are at low risk of developing skin can cers, it is important to remember that skin cancers can affect patients of any ethnicity and skin tone. Treatment regimens for skin cancers in African -American patients must be chosen appropriately by site of tumor, size of t umor and extent of disease as would be expected for any skin cancer.