Morphological spectrum of basal cell carcinoma in Southern Karnataka

Introduction: Basal Cell Carcinoma (BCC) is the most common skin cancer worldwide, which appears over sun-exposed skin as slow-growing, locally invasive lesion that rarely metastasizes. Many phenotypic presentations are possible. BCCs are more common in males and tend to occur in older people. Majority is found on the head and neck. Many histopathological subtypes have been defined including nodular, micronodular, cystic, superficial, pigmented, adenoid, infiltrating, sclerosing, keratotic, infundibulocystic, metatypical, basosquamous and fibroepitheliomatous. Mixed patterns are common. Aim: The aim was to study morphological spectrum of BCC in a tertiary care hospital in southern Karnataka. Materials and Methods: This was a retrospective analysis of 100 cases of BCCs reported in the Department of Pathology over a 9-year period from 2006 to 2014. Results: The mean age of presentation was 62 years. There was slight female preponderance (56%). The most common location was face (65%) and the most common presentation was ulceration (45%). f the 100 BCCs, 50% were nodular, 13% infiltrating, 6% basosquamous, 4% superficial, 3% keratotic, 3% multinodular and 1% mixed. Conclusion: BCC, besides being the commonest cutaneous cancer, is also known for its numerous histological patterns which are shown to have prognostic implications. This study reveals the frequency of the various histological patterns of BCC in southern Karnataka, where it has been rarely studied before.