Giant polypoid basal cell carcinoma

Abstract

Basal cell carcinomas may attain giant proportions due primarily to recurrence and neglect. Giant basal cell carcinomas (5 cm or more in diameter) are of four clinical subtypes: noduloulcerative, morpheaform, superficial, and polypoid. We report a patient with a typical polypoid lesion of fifteen years' duration on his shoulder. The polypoid variant differs from other giant basal cell carcinomas in several important ways: the polypoid lesions appear on the torso or extremity, rather than the head or neck, as beefy-red, friable, exophytic masses for which the patient typically has had no previous treatment; the histologic type tends to be nonaggressive; and finally, the lesions are amenable to surgical cure with low metastatic potential.