[Cutaneous head and neck carcinomas: biological characteristics, natural history and clinical classification]

In cutaneous carcinoma of the Head and Neck there is a 7% of cases that often suffer substantial morbidity and even mortality. The identification of the "high-risk patient" may derive from the study of the prognostic factors which have been published in Literature. The problem has to be differentiated between the basal cells carcinoma (BCC) and the squamous cells carcinoma (SCC) due to the locally limited aggressiveness of the first and the potential for metastatization of the latter. The evaluation of the different variables confirms the inadequacy of the present TNM Classification for Cutaneous carcinoma; nevertheless the opportunity of a new and omni-comprehensive proposal is questionable.