Cryosurgery for basal cell carcinoma treated in primary care

Cryosurgery for Basal Cell Skin Cancer of the Head: 15 Years of Experience

The clinical relevance of head and neck (H&N) tumors is related to the potential disfiguration of anatomical structures (by the tumor or surgical intervention), defining patients' individual features and emotional expression, loss or restraint of vital structures functions, and untoward socio-economic sequelae. This study is aimed to improve clinical outcomes of cryosurgery in patients with H&N basal cell skin cancer by refining the indications for cryosurgical treatment. In this study, cryosurgery was used in 234 patients with different stages of cutaneous basal cell carcinoma (BCC) of the head, including 101 patients with T1 tumors, 86-with T2, 5-T3, and 42 patients with tumors relapsing after failure of preceding various treatment modalities. Post-cryosurgery recurrence rate in patients with stage I BCC was 2.7%, with stage II tumors-5.6% and 34.9%-in patients with recurred tumors. Re-recurrence after cryoablation of recurrent tumors correlated with the tumor baseline size. The best aesthetic and long-term clinical results were documented in patients with lesions <1 cm in size with clear boundaries. Thus, cryosurgery is the method of choice for the majority of stage I basal cell carcinomas of the head. For patients with advanced and recurrent skin cancer, cryosurgery is relevant in rare cases selected according to refined indications.

Basal cell carcinoma: what new can be learned about the most common human cancer? A cross-sectional prospective study of 180 cases in a single centre

Introduction

Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) is the most common cancer in humans, but the reporting of patients with BCC is still not complete. There are a limited number of analyses in the literature on BCC epidemiology.

Aim

To study the epidemiological as well as clinical aspects of BCC by analysing a single centre’s experience in the Lower Silesia region of Poland.

Material and methods

We investigated 180 patients with BCC treated in the Unit of Dermatosurgery, Department of Dermatology, Venereology, and Allergology of Wroclaw Medical University between September 2017 and December 2019.

Results

The mean age of patients with BCC was 70.5 ±11.9 years. The most frequently diagnosed type of BCC was nodular type, at 72% of all patients. BCC occurred most commonly on the face and neck area, at 132 (73.3%), without a statistical difference between males and females. The vast majority of cancers were located on the nose. There was a personal history of skin cancer in 29% of our patients. In 127 (70.6%) subjects, the diameter of the BCC on the day of excision was less than 2 cm.

Conclusions

The clinical characteristics of our cohort of BCC patients has some similarities with that reported from central Poland and other European countries. However, we found an increase in the incidence of BCC among females.