Cervical cancer metastasis to the scalp: case report and literature review.

BACKGROUND

Distant metastasis in carcinoma of the uterine cervix is a rare manifestation, with scalp metastasis being an exceptional event.

CASE

We describe a 48-year-old woman with Stage IIb, squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix who was initially treated with radical hysterectomy and lymphadenectomy followed by concurrent chemoradiotherapy. The patient presented eight months later with swelling over the top of the scalp. The scalp was involved in the disease as the sole anatomic site of distant metastasis.

CONCLUSION

A search of the literature revealed only seven cases of such distant metastatic involvement of the scalp from cervical cancer. More frequent reports and better understanding on these rare events may give new insight to clear strategies to prevent scalp metastases.