An assessment of histological margins and recurrence of completely excised cutaneous SCC

There is a paucity of data relating to histological margins of cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) and local recurrence. Retrospective data were collected for 721 patients with cSCC treated at Queen Victoria Hospital, UK, and followed up for five years. The local recurrence rate was 6.1%, the mean time to recurrence was 12.61 months and 93% of recurrences occurred within two years. Sixty-six per cent of recurrences had a deep margin of 2.5 mm or less (p 0.041). The Pearson's correlation coefficient showed a strong correlation with tumour grade (r=0.82, p, 0.05), lymphovascular invasion (r=0.73. p<0.05), medium correlation with deep histological margin(r= -0.55, p<0.05), a weak correlation with male sex (r= 0.31, p<0.05) and the anatomical site of head and neck (r=0.31, p<0.05).The multiple regression analysis model using the 5 variables generated an r value of 0.71 and adjusted r square of 0.7. In conclusion, our findings are consistent with previously mentioned prognostic indicators and also demonstrate that deep histological margin is a significant predictor of local recurrence of cSCC. We recommend larger multi-institutional studies to confirm the above results to subsequently guide the specialist skin multidisciplinary teams' recommendations.