Surgical margins for basal cell carcinoma

Efficacy of narrow-margin excision of well-demarcated primary facial basal cell carcinomas

“…This is well below the 95% standard for tumor clearance that is expected in cutaneous surgical oncology. 1 Our data did not show any effect of tumor size or anatomic location on the risk of encountering positive margins, pre-empting the creation of a simple algorithm to eliminate or significantly reduce this risk.…”

“…The standard surgical margin for primary nonmelanoma skin cancers is 4 mm. 1,2 However, studies have shown that only 7% of small, well-circumscribed primary BCCs infiltrate beyond 1 mm of their clinical margins. 3 Moreover, given the sensitive cosmetic and functional location of many facial tumors, taking standard 4-mm surgical margins may not be desirable.…”

Randomized, controlled surgical trial of preoperative tumor curettage of basal cell carcinoma in Mohs micrographic surgery

“…BCCs greater than 2 cm in diameter were excluded because previous studies have shown that subclinical extension for these tumors is very unpredictable and, because of this, these tumors are routinely debulked either with a scalpel or a curette. 5,6 BCCs were required to be located on the head or neck because these are the tumors most likely to demonstrate significant subclinical extension and, thus, most likely to be treated with Mohs micrographic surgery. 7 BCCs not located on the head or neck were excluded because they are not likely to have significant subclinical extension and are routinely treated with excision or electrodessication and curettage.…”

Basal cell carcinoma

“…For rumors smaller than 2 em, in 95% of cases the minimal margin necessary to eradicate the entire cancer is 4mm. 13 MOHS' SURGERY-Mohs' surgery is currently indicated for the following 14 :…”