Doctors thought he just had jock itch. Then it spread


Olde Hornet

Well-Known Member
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nati...722226-83e5-11e6-a3ef-f35afb41797f_story.html

The doctor told Schroeder that his “jock itch” was actually an extremely rare, invasive cancer called extramammary Paget’s disease (EMPD), a malignancy that involves the apocrine glands that produce sweat; it often affects the vulva, scrotum or penis.

The cause of the cancer is unknown and doctors don’t know whether family history plays a role; some EMPD patients have close relatives with breast cancer, as does Schroeder, whose mother battled the disease.

EMPD is slow-growing; a two-year delay between the appearance of the first symptoms and a definitive diagnosis is not uncommon, studies have found. One reason is that it lacks few hallmarks and mimics eczema and other benign skin disorders. In some cases, EMPD reflects an underlying cancer elsewhere in the body, but in other cases, including Schroeder’s, no other cancer can be detected.

If left untreated, EMPD can spread and become lethal. Only a few hundred cases have been reported worldwide, most of them in women over 50.
 
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