Clinicopathological features and histological tumor residues in re-excision specimens of incompletely resected basal cell carcinomas.

Background And Objective: Surgical excision is the primary mode of treating basal cell carcinoma (BCC). Incomplete excision is a common phenomenon usually dealt with by re-excision. However, re-excision specimens often do not contain any tumor residues, rendering the procedure superfluous in hindsight. Our study objective is the identification of clinicopathological features associated with the presence of histological tumor residues in re-excision specimens.

Patients And Methods: 222 patients with a total of 255 incompletely resected BCCs were enrolled in this observational case-control study. Eight clinicopathological features were correlated in a binary logistic regression analysis to the presence or absence of histological tumor residues in re-excision specimens.

Results: Advanced age at first excision and a BCC in the high-risk zone for recurrence were found to be independent risk factors for the presence of histological tumor residues in re-excision specimens.

Conclusions: Our study results indicate a clear need for re-excision of incompletely resected BCCs in the aforementioned subpopulation. However, less invasive therapies such as imiquimod may be considered for the follow-up treatment of incompletely resected BCCs located in the low-risk zone for recurrence in younger patients.