Five-year study in patients with non-melanoma skin cancer in Las Tunas

Abstract

Background: non-melanoma skin cancer has shown a gradual increase all over the world. There is a similar behavior in Las Tunas, Cuba.

Objective: to characterize the patients diagnosed histopathologically with non-melanoma skin cancer, whose biopsies were analyzed in the pathologic anatomy department of "Ernesto Guevara de la Serna” General Teaching Hospital from January, 2010 to December, 2014.

Methods: a descriptive and cross-sectional study was carried out in 3970 patients treated at the aforementioned place and time period, using the official biopsy model as a secondary source of data collection. The data were processed using descriptive statistics.

Results: this cancer had a frequency of a 15,6 % in 2010, it increased to a 21,7 % in 2011, and ranged between 20,62 % and 22,5 % in 2012 and 2013, respectively. In 2014 it showed a decrease of positive cases to 19,5 %. The predominant histological type was basal cell carcinoma, above 50 % in all the years and it was present in 65,4 % of the studied sample. Males (51,5 %) and females (48,5 %) showed very similar figures. The age group over 60 years old predominated, with 61,2 % of patients. Most of them came from secondary health care (76,62 %), and dermatology was the specialty with the highest percentage of biopsy indications, with a 42,84 %.

Conclusions: the histological variety that predominated in patients with non-melanoma skin cancer was basal cell carcinoma and its frequency was higher in patients of more than 60 years old; primary health care did not constitute the main step in search and treatment of this condition and the patients were mostly attended by dermatologists and maxillofacial surgeons.