Nonmelanoma facial skin carcinomas: methods of treatment

The objective was to present in this study the administered treatment, reconstruction, and outcomes for lesions excised according to a prediagnosis of facial tumor, whose pathological finding was reported as nonmelanoma skin tumor.

A total of 178 patients with full medical histories who were operated on for skin tumors in the Ear, Nose, and Throat Clinic of Ankara Oncology Education and Research Hospital between February 2010 and March 2012 were evaluated retrospectively. The test group was made up of 125 men (70%) and 53 women (30%), with a median age of 56 years (range, 29-89 years).

Basal cell carcinoma was diagnosed in 112 patients (63%), 45 (40%) of whom underwent flap reconstruction procedures; squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) was diagnosed in 55 patients (31%), 25 (45%) of whom underwent flap reconstruction procedures; 5 patients (3%) were diagnosed with basosquamous carcinoma, 3 (60%) of whom underwent flap reconstruction, and metatypical carcinoma was found in 6 patients (3%), and 5 (80%) underwent flap reconstruction treatment. Recurrence occurred in 10 (18%) of the 55 SCC patients. Invasion depths in the patients with recurrence were between 7 and 30 mm. In 21 (46%) of the 45 patients without recurrence, invasion depths were between 4 and 30 mm, whereas the invasion depths in the other 24 patients (53.3%) were less than 4 mm.

Metastatic lymph node involvement localized to the auricular, infra-auricular, and postauricular was present in the pathological specimens of all patients with lesions who had selective neck dissection I to IV included into their treatment. The depth of invasion of SCCs was found to be statistically significant in terms of recurrences.