Nevoid basal cell carcinoma syndrome: a 17-year study of 19 cases in Iranian population (1991-2008)

Nevoid basal cell carcinoma syndrome (NBCCS) is a hereditary autosomal dominant disorder with a wide range of clinical signs and symptoms. The major criteria are more than two basal cell carcinoma, keratocystic odontogenic tumor, three or more palmar pits, and calcification of the falx cerebri, spine and rib anomalies, and a family history of the syndrome.

This study reports 19 cases in an Iranian population and presents this rare syndrome as a differential diagnosis of skeletal anomalies. Between 1991 and 2008, the demographic, clinical, radiologic and histologic data of 19 patients with NBCCS were analyzed.

The average age at the time of diagnosis of NBCCS was 35.12 years. All patients had a minimum of two major criteria. The major criteria with the most frequency were the keratocysts odontogenic tumor (19 patients), and the average number was 6.2. Basal cell carcinoma (8 patients), and the average number was 14.7 calcification of the falx cerebri (17 patients), palmo-plantar pits (14 patients), mild hypertelorism (10 patients), and bilateral cleft lip and palate (1 patient). Only one patient was affected with an unusual case of NBCCS in a 30-year-old man with an associated squamous cell carcinoma of the maxillary sinus. Only two cases of this unusual association have been reported. This case is one of a large family including 14 NBCCS-affected patients.