Neglected malignant neoplasms with cutaneous involvement

Cancer is currently the second cause of death in many countries, including Poland [1, 2]. Importantly, some of the deaths caused by cancer could be avoided by effective prevention, early diagnosis, adequate treatment, and rehabilitation [3]. It has already been established that late diagnosis of neoplastic disease has a negative impact on the prognosis. Many causes of delay in diagnosis have also been identified. This may be due to the following: insufficient knowledge of the population, cultural differences, incorrect beliefs, superstitions, fear, or embarrassment [4–10]. It was shown that this group of diseases leads the highest level of anxiety among the respondents [11]. Moreover, according to the results of another survey conducted in Poland, 66% of Polish women indicated anxiety as the reason for not undergoing screening mammography [12]. Despite the fact that many activities have been undertaken to enhance both the first and second phase of prevention, cancer remains an unresolved (and even growing) problem of public health. Recently, the situation may have additionally been worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic [13]. The significant increase in the incidence (sometimes even called ‘epidemic’) of skin cancers (including melanoma and other non-melanoma skin cancers) together with population ageing and new survival-prolonging treatment modalities have influenced the establishment and further evolution of a new discipline, which is dermato-oncology. Despite the fact that it comprises a group of preventable diseases with known risk factors [9], a 45-fold increase of melanoma (and 80-fold of non-melanoma skin cancers) is expected over 8 decades. Australia is probably the only country that has managed to change this negative trend of melanoma incidence [14].
Skin cancer involvement may be a part of local invasion as well as distant metastatic evolution. Although the skin is a relatively rare location of cancer metastasis, it is becoming more and more common as a result of better treatment resulting in longer overall survival. The presence of skin metastases is most often found in late-stage cancer, but may also be the first symptom. It has been estimated that it may affect as many as 1 in 10 patients [15, 16]. Melanoma and lung cancer were reported to be the most common sources of skin metastases in men, and breast cancer in women. The clinical manifestation of neoplastic lesions within the skin is diverse (most often the form of nodules) and may...


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