Surgery for primary basal cell carcinoma including the eyelid margins with intraoperative frozen section control: comparative interventional study with a minimum clinical follow up of 5 years.
OBJECTIVE
To assess recurrence of primary basal cell carcinoma (PBCC) including the eyelid margins after resection with or without intraoperative frozen section control (IFS).


METHODS
Comparative non-randomised interventional study involving review of records of consecutive patients with histological diagnosis of PBCC including the eyelid margins, treated surgically at the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg between 1989 and 1998. Patients with a minimum clinical follow up of 5 years treated with (group I) or without (group II) IFS were compared. Postoperatively, permanent paraffin sections were available in all patients.


RESULTS
165 patients were available for study. There were 145 patients with a minimum of 5 years follow up. Of these, no tumour recurrences were observed in group I (n = 114) compared with three (9.7%) in group II (n = 31) (p = 0.002).


CONCLUSIONS
Surgery for PBCC including the eyelid margins with IFS and immediate plastic reconstruction, as performed in the present study, is associated with better long term cure compared with surgery with clinical control.
Conway
R M
RM
Department of Ophthalmology and Eye Hospital, University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Schwabachanlage 6, D-91054 Erlangen, Germany. rmaxconway@hotmail.com
Themel
S
S
Holbach
L M
LM
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D019882:Blepharoplasty; D002280:Basal Cell Carcinoma / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D005142:Eyelid Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005629:Frozen Sections; D006801:Humans; D007430:Intraoperative Care / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000517:prevention & control*; D016896:Treatment Outcome