Introduction: Multiple distinct tumors arising in a single individual or within members of a family raise the suspicion of a genetic susceptibility disorder.
Case presentation: We present the case of a 52-year-old Caucasian woman diagnosed with sebaceous gland carcinoma of the eyelid, followed several years later with subsequent diagnoses of breast cancer and papillary carcinoma of the thyroid. Although the patient was also exposed to radiation from a pipe used in the oil field industry, the constellation of neoplasms in this patient suggests the manifestation of a known hereditary susceptibility cancer syndrome. However, testing for the most likely candidates such as Muir-Torre and Cowden syndrome proved negative.
Conclusion: We propose that our patient's clustering of neoplasms either represents a novel cancer susceptibility disorder, of which sebaceous gland carcinoma is a characteristic feature, or is a variant of the Muir-Torre syndrome.