Featuring Todd Cartee, MD Mohs surgeon Dr. Cartee provided a comprehensive overview of cutaneous oncology in one of the afternoon breakout sessions. Incidence of non-melanoma skin cancers is increasing in patients under 40 years of age in the US. High risk basal cell cancers include micronodular, infiltrating and morpheaform subtypes. Morpheaform basal cell carcinomas tend …
Typically, when a basal cell carcinoma (BCC) is removed, the punch or shave biopsy includes a small margin and pathology results often include comments on a small amount of the margin. If the margin status is negative then clinicians may conclude that the lesion has been completely removed and does not require further treatment. A …
Day 2 of the SDPA Summer Conference ended with an illuminating lecture on eyelid malignancies by Dr. Michael Yen, an oculoplastic surgeon. The most common eyelid malignancy is basal cell cancer representing 95% of eyelid malignancies. Suspicious characteristics for eyelid malignancies include growth, lid notching, ulceration, telangiectasias and deepening pigmentation. Madarosis, or loss of eyelashes, …
Statin drugs, used to combat high cholesterol, are a commonly used drug in the United States. As the use of statins continues to rise, so too does the incidence of melanoma and keratinocyte carcinomas (KCs), which include squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and basal cell carcinoma (BCC). Some studies have noted that certain cellular mechanisms that …
So-called ‘hedgehog pathway inhibitors’ (HPI) such as vismodegib and sonidegib are effective therapies for treating basal cell carcinoma (BCC). HPI target overactive signals in the hedgehog molecular pathway that lead to the proliferation of cancer cells. However, when inhibiting the cancer cells, HPI also inhibit hair follicle (HF) growth which leads to hair loss in …