Neck location of basal cell carcinomas: a new-significant variant?

Basal cell carcinoma of the neck has been suggested to have a distinct clinical, histological and prognostic significance. The aim of our study is to verify this assumption. Among 1,185 basal cell carcinomas, we have observed 42 tumors localized on the neck. The mean age did not differ from that of patients with basal cell carcinomas on other sites, and there was no difference in incidence between sexes. The frequence of recurrence was 4.76%, similar to the recurrence rate of basal cell carcinomas on other sites. The lesions were typed histologically according to accepted criteria. The patterns observed were: nodular (62.8%), superficial (21.1%), mixed (4.7%), micronodular (5.9%), and infiltrative (5.7%). These frequencies did not differ significantly from those observed in the basal cell carcinomas on other sites. Thus, in comparison with the overall basal cell carcinoma population, the tumors of the neck do not represent a particular clinical and histologic subtype and do not have a particular recurrence potential. We think that basal cell carcinomas localized on the neck do not represent a particular subtype of these tumors; their treatment can be the same as that of basal cell carcinomas on other regions.