Surgical excision of basal cell carcinoma with complete margin control: outcome at 5-year follow-up.
BACKGROUND
The incidence of skin cancer and especially basal cell carcinoma (BCC) has increased in the last few decades. The gold standard of care is usually a surgical excision, but it also has the risk of local recurrence depending on tumor characteristics.


OBJECTIVE
We analyzed the 5-year cure rates after surgical excision of BCC with complete margin control using paraffin-embedded sections.


METHODS
A retrospective analysis of 671 patients (45.3% male, 54.7% female) with 777 primary and 85 with recurrent BCC were collected during 2001-2003. All patients underwent surgery with complete margin control using paraffin-embedded sections. When the histological examination revealed a positive margin, another surgical step was performed in the area of residual tumor.


RESULTS
Five-year follow-up examinations were possible in 630/862 (73.1%) of patients with BCC. In the group with primary BCC (n = 562), 3 tumor recurrences (0.5%) were identified; in the group with recurrent BCC (n = 68), 2 tumor recurrences (2.9%) were seen, resulting in an overall 5-year recurrence rate of 0.8% for all patients with BCC. The mean tumor recurrence time after surgery was 36.6 months.


CONCLUSIONS
Local complete tumor resection confirmed by complete margin control using paraffin-embedded sections can achieve excellent cure rates for both primary and recurrent BCC.
Wetzig
T
T
Department of Dermatology, Venereology and Allergology, University of Leipzig Medical Center, Philipp-Rosenthal-Strasse 23, Leipzig, Germany. wett@medizin.uni-leipzig.de
Woitek
M
M
Eichhorn
K
K
Simon
J C
JC
Paasch
U
U
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002280:Basal Cell Carcinoma / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008866:Microsurgery / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D015580:Mohs Surgery; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000601:surgery; D018365:Neoplasm, Residual / Q000601:surgery; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult