title: A rare and unusual case of bilateral, axillary, metachronous apocrine carcinoma.
abstract: Apocrine carcinoma is a rare sweat gland neoplasm with very few cases reported in the published literature. We report a case of primary axillary apocrine carcinoma with later recurrences in both axillae. A 55-year-old man was clinically diagnosed with hydradenitis suppurativa in the right axilla, and after excision of lesion, histology showed metastatic adenocarcinoma of probable breast origin. However, no primary focus was found after extensive work-up except for metastatic lymph nodes in the ipsilateral axilla treated with axillary clearance. After 4 years, the patient developed metastatic lymph nodes in the contralateral axilla and had surgery. He had a further recurrence in the right axilla and was treated with surgery and radiotherapy. He continues to do well at this time, with no evidence of local or distant metastases.
authors.affiliation: West Middlesex University Hospital, Breast and General Surgery Department, Twickenham Road, Isleworth, Middlesex TW7 6AF, UK. docsantu@gmail.com
authors.forename: Santosh K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Somasundaram
authors.forename: Rajesh K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Balasubramanian
authors.forename: Farhad
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Aref
authors.forename: Shakir
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Karim
authors.forename: Rajiv
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Vashisht
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000556:secondary* / Q000628:therapy; D001050:Apocrine Glands / Q000473:pathology*; D001365:Axilla; D018567:Breast Neoplasms, Male / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; D016609:Neoplasms, Second Primary; D013544:Sweat Gland Neoplasms / Q000556:secondary* / Q000628:therapy