Cutaneous metastasis from the primary breast carcinoma occurs when the disease is wide spread and can present as skin infection especially in a previous well-healed scar. If the secondary deposit is over a total knee incisional site it can mimic peri-prosthetic joint infection. We report a rare and unusual case of a woman who presented with clinical signs and symptoms of a peri-prosthetic total knee replacement which on biopsy turned out to be cutaneous metastasis from a previously treated breast cancer. Chronic granulation tissue in a total joint incisional scar may present as peri-prosthetic joint infection. A good history taking and clinical examination with specimens from the skin lesions send for both microbiology and histopathology is recommended to arrive at an early and accurate diagnosis.
Published by Oxford University Press and JSCR Publishing Ltd. © The Author(s) 2022.