title: Long-term Follow-up of Positive Surgical Margins in Basal Cell Carcinoma of the Face.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) in central facial locations and tumors with positive margins are at a higher risk of recurrence. The most effective treatment is total excision, which includes an adequate pathological margin.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the outcome of the patients who underwent surgery for BCCs of the head and neck and of those who had positive surgical margins where Mohs surgery is not available.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study was conducted at Ege University Medical School between 2004 and 2014. One hundred thirty patients with 154 BCC who underwent surgical excision were included. In the histopathologic report, the existence of positive margin, BCC subtype, localization of the tumor, and distance of margins to the tumor were evaluated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twenty-three lesions (14.9%) of 22 patients revealed positive surgical margins. Six patients (26.1%) had recurrences on the surgical site. The BCC subtypes of recurrent patients were reported to be multifocal superficial in 2 (33.3%), infiltrative (16.7%) in 1, and micronodular (50%) in 3.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Patients with superficial multifocal or micronodular tumors should undergo reoperation because of high recurrence rates.
authors.affiliation: Departments of *Otorhinolaryngology, †Pathology, and ‡Dermatology, Ege University Medical Faculty, Izmir, Turkey.
authors.forename: Aykut
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bozan
authors.forename: Sercan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gode
authors.forename: Isa
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kaya
authors.forename: Banu
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Yaman
authors.forename: Mustafa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Uslu
authors.forename: Serdar
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Akyildiz
authors.forename: Fazil
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Apaydin
authors.forename: Can
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ceylan
authors.forename: Gunseli
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ozturk
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002280:Basal Cell Carcinoma / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000601:surgery; D012086:Reoperation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology