Cutaneous basal cell carcinoma: A morphological spectrum

Background: Basal cell carcinomas (BCCs) are much less common than squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) among the cutaneous malignancies in India. Most of the BCCs behave indolently with low metastatic potential. Histological diagnosis and classification of BCCs are essential to predict their behavior and course. This study was done to analyze the histological spectrum. Materials and Methods: A retrospective study was done with 25 cases diagnosed over a 5-year period. The relevant clinical details were obtained and the slides were reviewed. Results: Twenty-five cases of cutaneous BCC were analyzed. The age of the patients ranged from 50 to 95 years with equal incidence in males and females. The duration of the lesions varied from 2 months to 10 years. Most of the lesions occurred on the face with 12 cases in the periorbital region and 9 cases on the cheek. There were one case each with a lesion on the scalp, back, chest, and abdominal wall. The histological subtypes found in our study included nodular type (undifferentiated -14 cases, and with differentiation -7 cases), nodulocystic type -1 case and basosquamous (metatypical) type -3 cases. Conclusion: It is important to differentiate basal cell carcinoma from other skin tumors and also type the tumors as the prognosis and risk of recurrence depends on the subtype