Primary large-cell neuroendocrine carcinoma of the scrotum

Abstract

Neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) mostly develop from the neural crest cells but a few arise from neuroectoderm. They are common in the lungs and gastrointestinal tract but rare in the genitourinary tract. A 78-year-old man with no family history of malignant or hereditary diseases presented with a 3-month history of a rapidly growing asymptomatic scrotal nodule and swelling in the groin. He had a negative history of sexually transmitted disease and of trauma, fungal infection or chronic irritation in the scrotal area; there was no history of radiotherapy or exposure to chemicals or arsenic. Both the scrotal and groin lesions were excised with a minimum of 1.2 cm of normal skin. Examination of the specimen revealed a confined poorly differentiated large-cell neuroendocrine carcinoma with a metastasis to the inguinal lymph nodes. Three months after the excision we found a local recurrence. The recurrent tumor revealed tumor tissue concurrent with the primary lesion. To the best of our knowledge, there have been no previously published case reports on neuroendocrine tumor of the scrotum.