Cowden syndrome is a rare autosomal dominant familial cancer syndrome with a high risk of breast cancer. The most important clinical features include carcinomas of the breast and thyroid, and hamartomatous polyps of the gastrointestinal tract. There are characteristic mucocutaneous features which allow early recognition of the disease and are generally present before internal malignancies develop. We report on a woman in whom the diagnosis of Cowden syndrome was first made after she had been treated for both breast cancer and melanoma. Copyright (C) 2001 S. KargerAG, Basel.