Inflammatory Metastatic Carcinoma of the Parotid

Cutaneous metastases may assume a variety of distinctive morphologic patterns.1We describe a man with parotid adenocarcinoma and an erythematous patch on the anterior side of the chest. The latter condition resulted from lymphatic cutaneous spread of his adenocarcinoma, producing so-called inflammatory metastatic carcinoma or carcinoma erysipelatoides. The pattern is almost always associated with breast cancer. To our knowledge, this is the first report of inflammatory metastatic carcinoma associated with parotid adenocarcinoma. Report of a Case A man, aged 60 years, was seen in August 1979 with a four-month history of inflammation over the left parotid gland. An examination disclosed that the gland was swollen and indurated. A left parotidectomy and radical neck dissection were done, followed by a pectoralis flap reconstruction. The parotid was found to be diffusely infiltrated with a tumor that also involved the dermal lymphatic vessels of the overlying skin, the masseter muscle, and 13