title: Bowen's disease: A six-year retrospective study of treatment with emphasis on resection margins.
abstract: Bowen's disease is an in situ squamous cell carcinoma of the skin with various treatment modalities available. A major advantage of surgical excision is the opportunity to histologically examine the resection margins. There is no consensus about the most appropriate margin. This retrospective study evaluates the clearance rates achieved by excision with a 5 mm margin and estimates how that might change after fictitiously reducing the resection margin by 1 or 2 mm. Patients with histologically confirmed Bowen's disease were selected at the Maastricht University Medical Centre from 2002 until 2007. Surgical margins and complete excision rates were evaluated and histological slides were re-examined. To our knowledge this is the first study investigating the safety margin for Bowen's disease. As Bowen's disease is not an invasive disease, minimisation of healthy tissue excision is desirable. Our data show that a hypothetical reduction of the safety margin from 5 mm to 4 or 3 mm decreases the complete excision rate from 94.4% to 87% and 74.1%, respectively.
authors: Department of Dermatology, Maastricht University Medical Centre, 6202 AZ Maastricht, The Netherlands. annetattema@hotmail.com.
authors: Annet
authors: A
authors: Westers-Attema
authors: Fleur
authors: F
authors: van den Heijkant
authors: Bjorn G P M
authors: BG
authors: Lohman
authors: Patty J
authors: PJ
authors: Nelemans
authors: Veronique
authors: V
authors: Winnepenninckx
authors: Nicole W J
authors: NW
authors: Kelleners-Smeets
authors: Klara
authors: K
authors: Mosterd
mesh_terms: D000046:Academic Medical Centers; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001913:Bowen's Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000601:surgery*; D062109:Dermatologic Surgical Procedures / Q000009:adverse effects; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018365:Neoplasm, Residual; D009426:Netherlands; D012042:Registries; D012086:Reoperation; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000601:surgery*; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome