A 60-year-old, otherwise healthy male patient presented with a painless swelling near the lower lid of his left eye at the ophthalmology clinic of Ohud hospital in Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. At that time, he had had the swelling for almost 3 years. He had no similar swelling elsewhere in the body and no history of any malignancy in the past ().\nOn examination, the swelling was a superficial, non-tender, pink-colored nodule located horizontally on the tarsal plate of the left lower eyelid. It measured 2 cm x 1.5 cm x 1 cm and was mobile and firm in consistency. The swelling clinically resembled a benign lesion. The rest of the ocular examination was unremarkable in both eyes.\nThe excision biopsy of the lesion revealed a 2.5 cm x 1.5 cm x 1.3 cm mass. On the cut surface, a well-circumscribed, 2 cm x 1 cm x 0.8 cm grayish-white, firm tumor was seen in the center with 5millimeter (mm) surgical margins on all sides. A histological examination of the tumor showed overlying thinned-out epidermis, beneath which were seen sheets, cords and nodules of tumor cells lying in the pool of extracellular mucin (). At places, the cells showed cords, papillae and tubule formation, the tumor cells showed mild atypia and occasional mitotic figures; no necrosis was seen (), and all the surgical margins were free from the tumor. A diagnosis of mucinous adenocarcinoma was made. A wide range of immunohistochemistry panels were run to confirm the diagnosis. The tumor cells were strongly positive for cytokeratin 7 (CK7), cytokeratin 5/6 (CK5/6), tumor protein 63 (p63), estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and were negative for cytokeratin 20 (CK20) (). To investigate the possibility that this tumor did not represent a metastatic mucinous adenocarcinoma, the patient underwent a complete metastatic work-up which included, computed tomography (CT) of chest and abdomen, Positron emission tomography (PET) scan, esophago-gastro-duodenoscopy and sigmoidoscopy; no abnormalities were detected. The final diagnosis of a Primary mucinous adenocarcinoma of the eyelid was given.\nConsidering the age of the patient and the long duration and gradually increasing size of the swelling, the patient was scheduled for a wide local excision with free surgical margins and referred to the King Fahad Hospital in Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah.\nFor the past year, the patient has been on a regular follow-up schedule and is clinically free from the disease at present.
The patient was a 62-year-old female of African American ethnicity, with a past medical history of type 2 diabetes mellitus, chronic kidney disease secondary to diabetes, glaucoma, macrocytic anemia, chronic back pain and hypertension, who initially presented to her ophthalmologist with a small growth over her left upper eyelid. The patient had the swelling for more than four years that had gradually increased in size. She did not have it evaluated as it very occasionally caused symptoms like on and off tearing, itching, and irritation. She decided to seek medical care when she noticed some tenderness over the lesion. On initial evaluation, she was noted to have a 0.6 mm, elevated, cystic-appearing subcutaneous nodule in the central medial left upper lid margin and lash row. It was noninflamed and tender to palpation. The lesion was in close proximity to the cornea. All other eyelid and orbital functions were normal.\nThe lesion was initially thought to be a benign cyst. As it was symptomatic, it was excised and reconstruction was done. Histopathological analysis revealed positivity for carcinoma cells and suggested that it was a mucinous colloid carcinoma. As the margins were positive, a repeat excision with wider margins and reconstruction via advancement of her lateral full thickness upper lip into the central upper lid was done following a superior cantholysis of the lateral canthal tendon. The surgeons felt that there was no evidence of regional extension beyond what was excised. This was further confirmed by CT imaging of the orbits that revealed no locoregional extension or residual tumor (Figure ). Histopathological exam showed that the tumor was present within the dermis abutting the orbicularis muscle and was composed of lobules of epithelial cells floating in pools of mucin. Small ductal structures were observed within the lobules. A dual population of epithelial cells was identified with mild to moderate pleomorphism admixed with some atypical mitotic figures. Adjacent to the tumor, there were distended ductal structures with atypical proliferation of epithelial cells with a cribriform architecture and extracellular mucin. The tumor extended into the deep tissue edges, but perineural invasion was not identified. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed that the tumor was positive for tumor protein p63 (P63) and cytokeratin 7 (CK7) and negative for cytokeratin 20 (CK20), thyroid transcription factor-1 (TTF-1), and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER-2). These findings confirmed the diagnosis of PMA of the eyelid.\nGiven that an underlying occult malignancy of the gastrointestinal tract or breast may present similarly, she was evaluated extensively with CT scans of the thorax, abdomen, and soft tissues of the neck. She also had a mammogram and a colonoscopy. All the tests were unremarkable and negative for malignancy. Given the rarity of the disease, Radiation Oncology and Medical Oncology services were integrated to her care. She is being followed up in regular intervals and has not had any recurrence of her tumor thus far.