Age and site prevalence of histologic subtypes of basal cell carcinomas

Abstract

Background: Basal cell carcinomas (BCC) are the most frequently diagnosed skin cancers. The relationships between some clinical parameters, such as sex, age, and location of the tumor, and the histologic patterns play an important role as factors predictive of recurrence and treatment implications.

Methods: A total of 693 patients with BCC, divided according to sex, age, and location of the tumor were studied. The histologic patterns considered were nodular, superficial, and morpheiform BCC and fibroepithelioma. The correlation between clinical and histologic parameters was analyzed.

Results: All histologic patterns considered were most commonly represented in the 7th and 8th decades. There were no sex differences. A prevalence of a superficial pattern for sun-unexposed areas and of a nodular pattern for sun-exposed areas was observed. The morpheiform pattern showed no correlation with any body site. The fibroepithelioma showed an absolute prevalence for the lumbosacral region.

Conclusions: Age does not seem to be a discriminant or permissive factor for a particular histologic pattern of BCC. The prevalence of some subtypes for a particular body area may be explained on the basis of local predisposing conditions affecting the histologic development of the tumor.