Skin Disorders Difficult to Distinguish from Infection

Dermatologists and infectious disease specialists are often called upon to evaluate skin lesions in cancer patients, especially when an infectious etiology is suspected. Many different organisms can affect the skin, and these are comprehensively reviewed in other chapters. This section will review some of the noninfectious skin eruptions that mimic cutaneous infections. These noninfectious diagnoses may be suspected after review of the patient history, and are often confirmed by skin evaluation and biopsy as indicated. The morphology of the primary skin lesion, the one that has not been manipulated or otherwise treated, often provides important diagnostic clues. This chapter is intended to help the clinician generate a differential diagnosis when evaluating cutaneous lesions in cancer patients. Using the morphology of the primary lesion as a starting point, we then list the noninfectious diagnosis that could be considered and the infectious process it mimics.