SUCCESS OF SURGICAL TREATMENT OF BASAL CELL CARCINOMA: ROLE OF INTRAOPERATIVE FROZEN SECTION

Objective: To determine the success rate of surgical excision assisted with intra operative frozen section technique; in patients with high clinical suspicion of basal cell carcinoma at aesthetically important areas. Study Design: Descriptive cross-sectional. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Histopathology, Army Medical College and Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Rawalpindi in collaboration with department of Dermatology, Pak Emirates Military Hospital, Rawalpindi from Dec 2016 to Jun 2017. Material and Methods: A total of fifty one (n=51) patients between age 35-75 years with high clinical suspicion of basal cell carcinoma of any size or histology on aesthetically important areas who were planned for surgical excision were enrolled in the study. Success rate was assessed in terms of tumor free margin on histopathology report. Results: Mean age of study subjects was 54.7 years ± 13.4 SD with M:F of 1.43:1. Success rate was found to be 84.3% (n=43/51). No significant difference was observed in success rate after stratification with respect to gender, age, types of BCC (p>0.05 in all cases), but success of excision according to aesthetic areas was significant (p=0.029). Conclusion: Conventional surgical excision for BCC at aesthetically important areas assisted with intra operative frozen section technique resulted in high success rates in terms of tumor free margins