Skin cancers in patients referred for plastic surgery

Abstract

Background and Objective: Skin cancer is one of the most common malignancies in human. Early diagnosis and appropriate treatment can decrease the mortality and complications of these cancers. The aim of this study was to evaluate the frequency of skin cancers in Babol. Methods: This study was performed on all cases with skin cancers referred to surgery department in Babol medical university. Biopsy of skin lesions were done and sent to pathology department. Data were analyzed by SPSS and the proportions were compared by using X² and Fisher exact tests. Findings: From all of 132 cases, frequency of basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) were relatively high and the most common sites of involvement were head and face. Eighty-eight (66.6%) of cases were more than 50 years and there was not a significant relationship between the time of the onset of the lesions and diagnosis in all kinds of these cancers. The mean duration of time from the onset of tumor to diagnosis in BCC, SCC and melanoma were 3.7±1.2, 2.96±1.3 and 3.2±1.3 years, respectively. There were not any significant differences between the types of these cancers according to gender (P=0.04), and also between these cancers and relapse (P=0.0001). Conclusion: Since, most of the patients refer with a delay after onset of lesions and with regard to metastasis of some kinds of these cancers, it is necessary to increase the knowledge of people about skin cancers for early diagnosis and appropriate treatment.

Keywords

• skin cancer
• bcc
• scc
• melanoma