Institutional Experience of Treatment and Outcomes for Cutaneous Periauricular Squamous Cell Carcinoma

To report our institutional experience, management, and outcomes of cutaneous periauricular squamous cell carcinoma (SCC).

Retrospective chart review.

Tertiary academic center.

Patients undergoing treatment of cutaneous periauricular SCC from 2000 to 2016.

A total of 112 patients had a median follow-up of 24.5 months, a mean ± SD age of 75.7 ± 10.6 years, and a strong male predominance (93.8%). Site distribution shows 87 (77.7%) auricular, 26 (23.2%) preauricular, and 10 (8.8%) postauricular lesions. Of auricular lesions, tumors involved the tragus (n = 3, 3.4%), helix/antihelix (n = 47, 54.0%), conchal bowl (n = 31, 35.6%), external auditory canal (n = 18, 16.1%), and lobule (n = 3, 3.4%). Most patients presented at stage I (52.7%) versus stages II (28.6%), III (6.3%), and IV (12.5%). Patients were largely treated surgically with primary tumor resection ranging from wide local excision to lateral temporal bone resection (± parotidectomy and neck dissection), with 17.0% and 5.4% receiving adjuvant radiation and chemoradiation, respectively. Metastatic spread was seen to the parotid (25.9%) and neck (26.8%), with most common cervical spread to level II. Overall survival, disease-specific survival, and disease-free survival at 3 years were 62%, 89%, and 56%, respectively. Nodal disease was associated with worse disease-specific survival (P < .001) and disease-free survival (P = .042). Pre- and postauricular sites were associated with worse overall survival (P = .007) relative to auricular sites.

Among cutaneous SCC, periauricular subsites pose treatment challenges related to surrounding anatomy and represent a unique tumor population. The reported propensity toward recurrence and patterns of metastasis may better guide treatment of aggressive tumors to include regional nodal dissection.