Structural composition and clinical features of dermatological patients with keratinocytic skin tumors

Abstract

Basal cell skin cancer (BCС) is the most common malignancy that is found in dermatological practice. The purpose of the study: to determine the structure of clinical manifestations of BCС in ambulant dermatological patients. The study was conducted from 2015 to 2017 in a private clinic in Kazan, which has a license to provide medical care in the specialties "dermatovenerology" and "surgery". We studied the results of examination of 2730 patients with skin tumors available in outpatient cards. 101 patients with histologically verified BCС were examined, including 29% of men (n=29) and 71% of women (n=72), the average age was 59.7±14.9 years (median – 61.5 years). The percentage of patients with BCС among patients with all skin malignancies at the dermatological reception was 95.3% (n=101). Most often, patients aged 60-74 years suffered from BCС: women – in 21.0% (n=21) and men – in 16.0% (n=16), respectively. The proportion of women aged 45-59 years was significantly higher – 20.0%, than the proportion of men – 9.0% (p<0.05). Men were significantly more likely to see a dermatologist – 55.0% in less than a year from the onset of the disease, than women – 21.4% (p<0.01). The proportion of women (44.6%) who noted the appearance of a tumor over a long period (≥5 years) was significantly less than the proportion of men 15.0% (p<0.05). The most common variant of BCС was the nodular form n=77 (76.2%), in which the primary elements of 80.5% were identified by dermatologists as single 5-10 mm papules. The oculo-fronto-nasal region was involved in the pathological process in 47.5% (n=48) of cases, which is significantly more frequent than in other localisations (p<0.05). Dermatoscopy improved the visualization of the atypical vascular network.