Eccrine Porocarcinoma of the Skin is Rising in Incidence in the East of England

Eccrine porocarcinoma (EPC) was first described by Pinkus & Mehregan in 1963 (1) as "epidermotropic eccrine carcinoma" and is the malignant counterpart of eccrine poroma. It is a rare tumour (0.005-0.01% (2, 3) of cutaneous tumours), thought to arise from the acrosyringium of the sweat gland of the skin. The term "porocarcinoma" was first used by Mishima & Morioka in 1969 (4). Although initial case series suggested that this was a highly aggressive tumour, with approximately 60% of cases reported to have local recurrence, metastases or death, later larger case series of 18, 24 and 27 patients, respectively, did not support such an aggressive natural history