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Paraneoplastic pemphigus (PNP), a clinically and immunopathologically distinct mucocutaneous blistering dermatosis, is a severe form of autoimmune multiorgan syndrome generally associated with poor therapeutic outcome and high mortality. This IgG-mediated disease is initiated by an obvious or occult lymphoproliferative disorder in most cases. Clinically severe mucositis, and polymorphic blistering skin eruptions, and histologically acantholysis, keratinocyte necrosis and interface dermatitis are its hallmark features. A 58-year-old female presented with recurrent, severe, recalcitrant stomatitis and widespread erosions/blistering lesions of one-year duration. Treatment with repeated courses of systemic corticosteroids at a peripheral center would provide temporary relief. She also had fever, productive cough, odynophagia and poor oral intake, herpes zoster ophthalmicus, pain in the abdomen, and watery diarrhea. An array of investigations revealed chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), mediastinal and para-aortic lymphadenopathy, bronchiolitis obliterans, and vertebral osteoporosis/fractures. With the diagnosis of CLL-associated PNP she was managed with dexamethasone-cyclophosphamide pulse (DCP) therapy for 3 cycles initially, followed by COP regimen (cyclophosphamide, vincristine, and prednisolone) for 5 cycles. Remission is being maintained with chlorambucil and prednisolone pulse therapy once in 3 weeks with complete resolution of skin lesions and adequate control of CLL.

Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) accounts for 80% of all nonmelanoma skin cancers. Its metastasis is extremely rare, ranging between 0.0028 and 0.55 of all BCC cases. The usual metastasis to lymph nodes, lungs, bones, or skin is from the primary tumor situated in the head and neck region in nearly 85% cases. A 69-year-old male developed progressively increasing multiple, fleshy, indurated, and at places pigmented noduloulcerative plaques over back, chest, and left axillary area 4 years after wide surgical excision of a pathologically diagnosed basal cell carcinoma. The recurrence was diagnosed as infiltrative BCC and found metastasizing to skin, soft tissue and muscles, and pretracheal and axillary lymph nodes. Three cycles of chemotherapy comprising intravenous cisplatin (50 mg) and 5-florouracil (5-FU, 750 mg) on 2 consecutive days and repeated at every 21 days were effective. As it remains unclear whether metastatic BCC is itself a separate subset of basal cell carcinoma, we feel that early BCC localized at any site perhaps constitutes a biological continuum that may ultimately manifest with metastasis in some individuals and should be evaluated as such. Long-standing BCC is itself potentially at risk of recurrence/dissemination; it is imperative to diagnose and appropriately treat all BCC lesions at the earliest.