scholarly journals A A Rare Case of a Metastatic Basal Cell Carcinoma

Author(s):  
Hiba Chaudhry ◽  
Dimitrios Doumpiotis

Background: Basal cell carcinomas are malignant slow-growing neoplasms of the epidermal layer of the skin. They are the most common form of skin cancer, accounting for 80% of non-melanoma skin cancers. Metastasis is rare with an incidence rate of 0.0028 to 0.55%. We report a case of an 83 year old male presenting with basal cell carcinoma (BCC) of the right cheek. The tumour was completely excised with close margins. The patient was closely monitored clinically and on follow-up, a mass in the region of the right parotid was identified. Excision of the tail of the right parotid identified a tumour with similar subtype to the primary tumour excised from the cheek confirming diagnosis of metastatic BCC. Methods: A literature search was carried out inclusive of the terms identify existing data and guidelines to determine best evidence based practice. Discussion: Literature search identified aetiology of BCCs and methods of diagnosis and treatment. The search also highlighted an incidence rate of 0.0028 to 0.55% and complications associated with metastasis. The patient underwent a course of radiotherapy as surgery in this case was contraindicated due to history of excision of the parotid tail. Risk factors for developing BCCs include intermittent sun exposure, ionising radiation, genetic predisposition and immunosuppression. Metastases occurs via the lymphatic system or haematogenously. Surgery is the main form of treatment and aims to be curative.

2021 ◽  
Vol 79 (3) ◽  
pp. 261-264
Author(s):  
Luísa Rolim ◽  
Bruno M. Fernandes ◽  
Carolina Carvalho ◽  
António Silva ◽  
Joana Calvão ◽  
...  

Basal cell carcinoma is the most common skin cancer, with a very low incidence of metastases, associated with high morbidity and mortality. The morpheaform clinical variant is uncommon, presenting an aggressive growth pattern. Early diagnosis and new targeted therapies for metastatic disease are important to improve survival rates. We present the case of a 29-year-old patient with morpheaform basal cell carcinoma in the right genian region. Due to local recurrences, he underwent surgery and adjuvant radiotherapy. For extensive metastatic bone involvement, the patient started vismodegib and, later, pembrolizumab, and also performed palliative radiotherapy. Despite several lines of systemic therapy, the disease progressed, and the patient died after 8 years of follow-up. This case shows how crucial it is to identify risk factors for metastatic basal cell carcinoma and highlights the need to improve target therapies and tailor them to the patient’s biological profile.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Trevor Torgerson ◽  
Jennifer Austin ◽  
Jam Khojasteh ◽  
Matt Vassar

BACKGROUND Public awareness for BCC is particularly important, as its major risk factors — increased sun exposure and number of sunburns — are largely preventable. OBJECTIVE Determine whether social media posts from celebrities has an affect on public awareness of basal cell carcinoma. METHODS We used Google Trends to investigate whether public awareness for basal cell carcinoma (BCC) increased following social media posts from Hugh Jackman. To forecast the expected search interest for BCC, melanoma and sunscreen in the event that each celebrity had not posted on social media, we used the autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) algorithm. RESULTS We found that social media posts from Hugh Jackman, a well-known actor, increased relative search interest above the expected search interest calculated using an ARIMA forecasting model. CONCLUSIONS Our results also suggest that increasing awareness by Skin Cancer Awareness Month may be less effective for BCC, but a celebrity spokesperson has the potential to increase awareness. BCC is largely preventable, so increasing awareness could lead to a decrease in incidence.


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