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Review
. 2022 Oct 6;11(19):5899.
doi: 10.3390/jcm11195899.

Clinical Characteristics of Actinic Keratosis Associated with the Risk of Progression to Invasive Squamous Cell Carcinoma: A Systematic Review

Alise Balcere  1 , Laura Konrāde-Jilmaza  2 , Laura Agnese Pauliņa  3 , Ingrīda Čēma  4 , Angelika Krūmiņa  5
Affiliations
Review

Clinical Characteristics of Actinic Keratosis Associated with the Risk of Progression to Invasive Squamous Cell Carcinoma: A Systematic Review

Alise Balcere et al. J Clin Med. .

Abstract

Background: Actinic keratosis (AK) is one of the most common lesions on chronically sun-damaged skin that has the risk of progression to invasive squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). With the possibilities of using digital technologies for following-up skin lesions and their increased use in the past few decades, our objective was to update the review by Quaedvlieg et al., 2006, and to review prospective studies from 2005 onwards to identify the clinical characteristics of AK that later progressed to SCC.

Methods: The PubMed, Scopus, and ScienceDirect databases were searched for relevant articles. The search had the following criteria: English language, human subjects and year from 2005 onwards. The study protocol was registered in the Prospero database with the record number CRD42020200429 and followed the PRISMA guidelines. The risk-of-bias assessment was performed using the QUIPS tool.

Results: From the 5361 studies screened, 105 reports were evaluated for eligibility, and 2 articles with 621 patients were included. The main AK types associated with the development of SCC were found to be baseline AK, also known as a long-standing AK, and merging AK, also called an "AK patch".

Keywords: AK patch; baseline AK; keratinocyte cancer; merging AK; progression.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
PRISMA flow diagram of the article selection process. Two studies met the inclusion criteria. AK—actinic keratosis. SCC—squamous cell carcinoma.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Evaluation of risk of bias using the QUIPS tool. Both studies were considered to have an overall low risk of bias. QUIPS, Quality in Prognosis Studies [13,14].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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