Jill Matsuoka

RTH 291
Tumor Conference
December 17, 2014
This morning I attended a tumor conference on the subject of the skin. There were so
many people in attendance and more doctors than my last tumor conference. Truthfully I did not
understand most of the topics they discussed; Porokeratosis and erythrodermic psoriasis to name
a couple. These diseases were wonderful to hear and learn about, but I had no foundation of
knowledge to help me better understand the discussions. There was also an extensive
conversation about something called MF which I assume is Mycosis Fungoides. That was
particularly interesting because the discussion centered on the fact that seven biopsies are needed
to definitively diagnose this disease. Again, may have been a completely different illness.
One topic did peak my interest. It was about a man in his early forties, HIV positive with
a squamous cell carcinoma on the base of his penis. He served in the Iraq war and was captured
and held as a prisoner of war. During his captivity he was tortured, and one such act was having
implements attached to the base of his penis. This constant irritation may have been the cause of
his SCC. The slides were compelling as they should a fairly large lesion that spanned the entire
width of the top of his base of penis. Mohs surgery was performed and it was determined there
was no deep involvement. The lesion healed very nicely and his most recent pictures showed
only a very small area that was almost healed. I would guess once the skin is completely
repaired there will be very little evidence that he once suffered from SCC.