eccrine porocarcinoma

Porocarcinoma

Porocarcinoma (PCA) (also termed malignant poroma, eccrine porocarcinoma, and malignant eccrine poroma) is a rare form of skin cancer that develops in eccrine sweat glands, i.e. the body's widely distributed major type of sweat glands, as opposed to the apocrine sweat glands which are located primarily in the armpits and perineal area. This cancer typically develops in individuals as a single cutaneous tumor in the intraepidermal spiral part (termed the acrosyringium) of these sweat glands' ducts (i.e. channels) at or near to where they open on the skin's surface. PCA tumors are classified as one form of the cutaneous adnexal tumors; in a study of 2,205 cases, PCA was the most common (11.8%) form of these tumors. Porocarcinomas are malignant counterparts to the far more common benign tumors of the eccrine sweat gland's acrosyringium, i.e. poromas. As currently viewed, there are 4 poroma variants based on their predominant cell types and extent of their tumor tissues presence in the epidermis and dermis: 1) Hidroacanthoma simplexe poromas are confined to the epidermis, i.e. uppermost layer of the skin. 2) Dermal duct poromas are confined to the dermis, i.e. layer of skin between the epidermis and subcutaneous tissues. 3) Hidradenomas have recently been sub-classified into two groups; 95% are termed clear cell hidradenomas and have features suggesting that they derive from apocrine sweat glands while the remaining 5% are termed poroid hidradenomas and have features suggesting that they derive from eccrine sweat glands. And 4) eccrine poromas are eccrine sweat gland tumors...