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Nicoletti G, Brenta F, Malovini A, et al. Study to determine whether intraoperative frozen section biopsy improves surgical treatment of non-melanoma skin cancer. Mol Clin Oncol. 2012;1(2):390-394doi: 10.3892/mco.2012.51.
Nicoletti, G., Brenta, F., Malovini, A., Musumarra, G., Scevola, S., & Faga, A. (2013). Study to determine whether intraoperative frozen section biopsy improves surgical treatment of non-melanoma skin cancer. Molecular and clinical oncology, 1(2), 390-394. https://doi.org/10.3892/mco.2012.51
Nicoletti, Giovanni, et al. "Study to determine whether intraoperative frozen section biopsy improves surgical treatment of non-melanoma skin cancer." Molecular and clinical oncology vol. 1,2 (2013): 390-394. doi: https://doi.org/10.3892/mco.2012.51
Nicoletti G, Brenta F, Malovini A, Musumarra G, Scevola S, Faga A. Study to determine whether intraoperative frozen section biopsy improves surgical treatment of non-melanoma skin cancer. Mol Clin Oncol. 2013 Mar;1(2):390-394. doi: 10.3892/mco.2012.51. Epub 2012 Dec 14. PMID: 24649181; PMCID: PMC3956278.
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Mol Clin Oncol. 2013 Mar;1(2):390-394. doi: 10.3892/mco.2012.51. Epub 2012 Dec 14.

Study to determine whether intraoperative frozen section biopsy improves surgical treatment of non-melanoma skin cancer.

Molecular and clinical oncology

Giovanni Nicoletti, Federica Brenta, Alberto Malovini, Gaetano Musumarra, Silvia Scevola, Angela Faga

Affiliations

  1. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Unit, University of Pavia, Salvatore Maugeri Research and Care Institute, I-27100 Pavia, Italy.
  2. Department of Computer Engineering and Systems Science, University of Pavia, Salvatore Maugeri Research and Care Institute, I-27100 Pavia, Italy.

PMID: 24649181 PMCID: PMC3956278 DOI: 10.3892/mco.2012.51

Abstract

Skin cancers are the most common types of cancer and their incidence has shown an increase of ∼4 to 8% per year over the last 40 years. The majority of skin cancers (∼97%) are non-melanoma skin cancers, mainly represented by basal cell (80%) and squamous cell carcinomas (20%). The use of intra-operative frozen section remains controversial in the surgical treatment of non-melanoma skin cancer, being commonly considered an optional tool, the reliability and effectiveness of which remain questionable. A large retrospective study was conducted to examine 670 surgical excisions of non-melanoma skin cancers of the head and neck in 481 patients over a period of nine years, between May, 2002 and December, 2011, at the Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Unit of the University of Pavia, Salvatore Maugeri Research and Care Institute, Pavia, Italy. Results demonstrated the paradoxical ineffectiveness of an intra-operative frozen section biopsy in pursuing higher rates of radical excision in non-melanoma skin cancers. Nevertheless, a more detailed analysis on the use of frozen sections focusing on the various anatomical sites of the body demonstrated a reverse trend in the eyelids and canthi, where a higher success rate (87.50 vs. 69.77%) in the surgical treatment of non-melanoma skin cancers was obtained with the use of an intra-operative frozen section biopsy. Results of the present study suggested that intra-operative frozen section biopsy be routinely used in the surgical treatment of nonmelanoma skin tumors involving the eyelids and canthi.

Keywords: basal cell carcinoma; frozen section biopsy; non-melanoma skin cancer; resection margins; squamous cell carcinoma; surgical excision

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