A Clinicopathological Survey of Basal Cell Carcinoma in an Iranian Population

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM Basal cell carcinoma (BCC), the most common skin cancer, is a locally invasive malignant epidermal tumor with ulceration and destruction of underlying structures. PURPOSE The purpose of this study was clinicopathological evaluation of BCC in the state and the private pathology centers in Hamadan province during 1990-2010. MATERIALS AND METHOD In this retrospective study all histopathologically proven cases of BCC were reviewed and the related information including age, gender, place of residency and number of tumors for the patients alongside with the site of occurrence, size, histopathological and clinical type of the lesions were collected and then statistically analyzed, using SPSS software. RESULTS A total of 804 incidents of BCC were diagnosed in 746 patients (296 females and 450 males) with the most affected site being in the head-face (84.8%), neck (2.6%), trunk (1.6%) and limbs (0.9 %) and 10.1% cases with unknown site. The mean age for the patients was 61.77±13.75 years (63.07± 13.44 for males, 59.81 ± 14.01 for females) and the highest frequency (27.2%) occurred among 60-69 years age group. Nodular type was the most common clinical and histopathological BCC lesions studied whereas the mean size of the lesions was 15.67 ± 11.06 mm with more frequency rate in urban than rural regions. CONCLUSION This study focuses on the survey of BCC in Hamadan province but regarding to insufficiency of the data collected by state and provincial pathology centers about the BCC cases reported; it is highly recommended to apply comprehensive questionnaire, which are designated by skillful professionals who are familiar with the lesion nationally.