Secretory Carcinoma: A Very Rare Tumor Arising in the Eyelid Skin

Introduction

Secretory carcinoma of the skin is a rare tumor characterized by glandular differentiation similar to secretory carcinomas arising in the breast and in the salivary glands. This tumor was initially described in 2009 in the axilla of a 13-year-old girl [1]. In the skin, less than 35 cases have been documented to date. The most common location seems to be the axilla [2] (56%), followed by the neck (13%), but other locations such as lip or breast tissue [3] have been described. In the eyelids, 5 cases [3], [4], [5], [6], [7] have to best of our knowledge been reported so far, more commonly affecting women (60%), with a mean age of 51 years (SD 14.8).

We hereby document the clinico-pathological findings of such a tumor arising the upper eyelid skin in a 60-year-old woman. The demonstration of a rearrangement the N-terminal domain of ETV6 (E26 Variant Transcription Factor 6) on chromosome 12 and most commonly the C-terminal tyrosinase domain of NTKR3 (Neurotrophic Tyrosine Kinase Receptor 3) on chromosome 15, leading to ETV6-NTKR3 fusion gene is essential to confirm the diagnosis.

Publication History

Received: 03 November 2025

Accepted: 26 December 2025

Article published online:
05 February 2026

• References

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