Skin metastases from malignant melanoma often appear black or blue and nodular, mimicking harmless blue nevi (moles) on the skin. The amelanotic form is a less common presentation and appears as a skin-colored, pink or red skin lesion.

Some cancers, like skin cancer, breast cancer and radiation treated cancers may develop into an open wound in the skin. Most people who have cancer will never experience the unique pain and discomfort of a fungating tumor, but for those who do, being treated by an experienced surgeon is imperative.

Scalp involvement is very rare in breast cancer (Prabhu et al., 2009). Cutaneous metastasis usually presents with direct invasion or local infiltration, which indicates advanced disease (Prabhu et al., 2009, Shafiuddin et al., 2014).

This type of malignancy usually occurs as an aggressive squamous cell carcinoma with a high rate of metastatic spread and local recurrence. In most cases, patients will be over the age of 50 and will have lived with the ulcer for between 25-40 years before any malignant changes occur.

Although brain metastases are relatively common, metastasis to the skull base is rare; breast, lung, and prostate cancers are the most common malignancies that metastasize to this location.

An ulcerating tumour can start as a shiny, red lump on the skin. If the lump breaks down, it will look like a sore. The wound will often get bigger without any treatment. It can spread into surrounding skin or grow deeper into the skin and form holes.

The scalp is an unusual site of cutaneous metastasis. Brownstein and Helwig previously reported that scalp metastasis accounts for 4% of all skin metastases (5). Gastric cancer metastatic to the scalp is extremely rare with few cases reported to date (6–9).

When ruptured, the tumor releases a large number of electrolytes, including intracellular potassium, phosphate, and nucleic acid metabolites, all of which may enter systemic circulation and cause a number of life-threatening conditions including cardiac arrhythmia, seizure, and acute renal failure.

Although over half of all skeletal metastases are asymptomatic, they can cause symptoms in a number of scenarios 1,2:

• mass effect on adjacent structures. compression of brain/brainstem. focal neurological deficits. seizures.
• mechanical instability. occipital condyle compression fracture. temporomandibular joint instability.

Metastatic skull tumors are not rare, and most are calvarial circumscribed intraosseous tumors. MR images contribute to understanding their type, location, and multiplicity, and their relationship to the brain, cranial nerves, and dural sinuses. Radiation therapy improved the QOL of patients with neurological symptoms.

Pain is often mild and is usually temporary, but may continue for a few weeks. Your doctor can prescribe pain relief to help. Pain may be worse for people who already have pain caused by skin metastases, or when particular areas are treated, such as the breastbone (sternum).

Lung cancer is the most common cancer that is associated with scalp metastases. Of all metastases to the scalp, lung cancer is the most common at 24 % followed by colon (11 %), liver (8 %) and breast (8%). Kidney and ovary remain other causes on the list. In 30 % of cases, the exact origin can’t be precisely determined.

Symptoms of skin metastases include: Sometimes the symptoms of skin metastases, such as redness and inflammation, may look like an infection of the skin called cellulitis. Skin metastases can also cause lymphoedema, which is swelling of the arm, hand or breast area.

Scalp metastases can be challenging to diagnose in the early stages and diagnosis of a scalp metastasis ALWAYS comes from a biopsy. One can never look at a skin lesion and know with 100 % certainty that it is a metastasis from a cancer somewhere in the body.

A metastatic tumor in a different part of the body is made up of cells from the breast cancer. So if breast cancer spreads to the bone, the metastatic tumor in the bone is made up of breast cancer cells, not bone cells. Being diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer can be overwhelming.