Sebaceous carcinoma is an uncommon and aggressive malignant

Malignant

Malignancy is the tendency of a medical condition, especially tumors, to become progressively worse and to potentially result in death. Malignancy in cancers is characterized by anaplasia, invasiveness, and metastasis...

 cutaneous tumor

Tumor

A tumor or tumour is commonly used as a synonym for a neoplasm that appears enlarged in size. Tumor is not synonymous with cancer...

. Most are typically about 10 mm in size at presentation. This neoplasm is thought to arise from sebaceous glands in the skin

Skin

-Dermis:The dermis is the layer of skin beneath the epidermis that consists of connective tissue and cushions the body from stress and strain. The dermis is tightly connected to the epidermis by a basement membrane. It also harbors many Mechanoreceptors that provide the sense of touch and heat...

 and, therefore, may originate anywhere in the body where these glands are found. Because the periocular region is rich in this type of gland, this region is a common site of origin. The etiology of these lesions are, in the vast majority of cases, unknown. Occasional cases may be associated with Muir-Torre syndrome

Muir-Torre syndrome

Muir–Torre syndrome is an inherited cancer syndrome that is thought to be a subtype of HNPCC. Individuals are prone to develop cancers of the colon, breast and genitourinary tract, and skin lesions, such as keratoacanthomas and sebaceous tumours. The genes affected are MLH1 & MSH2, and involved...

.

This type of cancer usually has a poor prognosis because of a high rate of metastasis.

Pathophysiology

The cell of origin is usually unknown. Sebaceous gland carcinoma clearly resembles normal sebaceous glands and is thought to arise from them.

Morphology

Well-differentiated and moderately differentiated sebaceous carcinoma tend to exhibit vacuolization within the cytoplasm of the tumor cells. Histology may mimic basal cell carcinoma

Basal cell carcinoma

Basal-cell carcinoma is the most common type of skin cancer. It rarely metastasizes or kills. However, because it can cause significant destruction and disfigurement by invading surrounding tissues, it is still considered malignant. Statistically, approximately 3 out of 10 Caucasians may develop a...

.

Treatment

This type of carcinoma is commonly managed by local resection

Surgery

Surgery is an ancient medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a patient to investigate and/or treat a pathological condition such as disease or injury, or to help improve bodily function or appearance.An act of performing surgery may be called a surgical...

, cryotherapy

Cryotherapy

Cryotherapy is the local or general use of low temperatures in medical therapy or the removal of heat from a body part. The term "cryotherapy" comes from the Greek cryo meaning cold and the word therapy meaning cure...

, topical chemotherapy

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy is the treatment of cancer with an antineoplastic drug or with a combination of such drugs into a standardized treatment regimen....

, and radiotherapy. Multimodal therapy has been shown to improve both visual prognosis

Prognosis

Prognosis is a medical term to describe the likely outcome of an illness.When applied to large statistical populations, prognostic estimates can be very accurate: for example the statement "45% of patients with severe septic shock will die within 28 days" can be made with some confidence, because...

 and survival.

Mohs micrographic surgery has become the treatment of choice for this form of cancer. When used as the primary treatment modality for sebaceous carcinoma of the eyelid, Mohs surgery is associated with significantly lower local and distant recurrence rates.