cutaneous metastases from different internal malignancies in egypt

background : cutaneous metastasis is defined as the spread of malignant cells from a primary malignancy to the skin. generally, cutaneous involvement from internal malignancies is uncommon. no reports have focused on the cutaneous metastasis profiles in egypt or the middle eastern population. in this study, we seek to determine the rates at which different internal malignancies give rise to cutaneous metastases upon first diagnosis of the primary tumor. methods : patients with internal malignancies who attended the south egypt cancer institute from january 2004 through may 2010 were examined and followed to identify cutaneous metastases, which were confirmed by biopsy and histological evaluation. results : among 2208 cases of internal malignancies, 48 cases of cutaneous metastases were detected. the clinical profiles were similar to those from western and asian countries, although the frequencies of primary tumors differed. most commonly in egypt breast cancer and urinary bladder cancers were seen. conclusion : the risk of skin metastases depends largely on the characteristics of tumor cells, which are similar among different groups.