title: Morphological Spectrum of Basal Cell Carcinoma in Southern Karnataka.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Basal Cell Carcinoma (BCC) is the most common skin cancer worldwide, which appears over sun-exposed skin as slow-growing, locally invasive lesion that rarely metastasizes. Many phenotypic presentations are possible. BCCs are more common in males and tend to occur in older people. Majority is found on the head and neck. Many histopathological subtypes have been defined including nodular, micronodular, cystic, superficial, pigmented, adenoid, infiltrating, sclerosing, keratotic, infundibulocystic, metatypical, basosquamous and fibroepitheliomatous. Mixed patterns are common.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim was to study morphological spectrum of BCC in a tertiary care hospital in southern Karnataka.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a retrospective analysis of 100 cases of BCCs reported in the Department of Pathology over a 9-year period from 2006 to 2014.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean age of presentation was 62 years. There was slight female preponderance (56%). The most common location was face (65%) and the most common presentation was ulceration (45%). Of the 100 BCCs, 50% were nodular, 13% infiltrating, 6% basosquamous, 4% superficial, 3% keratotic, 3% multinodular and 1% mixed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  BCC, besides being the commonest cutaneous cancer, is also known for its numerous histological patterns which are shown to have prognostic implications. This study reveals the frequency of the various histological patterns of BCC in southern Karnataka, where it has been rarely studied before.
authors: Post Graduate Student, Department of Pathology, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal University , Mangaluru, India .
authors: Saraswathy
authors: S
authors: Sreeram
authors: Professor, Department of Pathology, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal University , Mangaluru, India .
authors: Flora Dorothy
authors: FD
authors: Lobo
authors: Professor, Department of Pathology, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal University , Mangaluru, India .
authors: Ramdas
authors: R
authors: Naik
authors: Professor, Department of Pathology, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal University , Mangaluru, India .
authors: Urmila Niranjan
authors: UN
authors: Khadilkar
authors: Professor, Department of Pathology, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal University , Mangaluru, India .
authors: Hema
authors: H
authors: Kini
authors: Associate Professor, Department of Surgery, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal University , Mangaluru, India .
authors: Ullal Anand
authors: UA
authors: Kini
keywords: Histopathology; Rodent ulcer; Skin cancer