5-Year Review of a Unique Multidisciplinary Nonmelanoma Skin Cancer Clinic

Background: A multidisciplinary nonmelanoma skin cancer (NMSC) clinic is held weekly at our center, where all new patients are jointly assessed by dermatology/dermatopathology, radiation oncology, and plastic surgery. A new patient database was established in 2004. The purpose of this study was to provide a preliminary report on the patients seen in the NMSC clinic and the treatment recommendations rendered. Methods: The new patient database was reviewed from January 2004 to December 2008, and patient demographics, tumor characteristics, and treatment recommendations were extracted. Cochran-Mantel-Harnszel (CMH) testing and chi-square analysis were used to detect any associations or relationships between variables within the database. A p value of less than .05 was considered significant. Results: During the 5-year study period, 2,146 new patients were seen in the NMSC clinic. The majority of patients presented with basal cell carcinoma (64%) or squamous cell carcinoma (22%), with a median tumor size of 1 to 2 cm (range 0 to #x003E; 9 cm). Tumors were located in the head and neck region (80%), extremities (14%), and torso (6%). Previous treatment included biopsy only (62%), surgery (20%), electrodesiccation and curettage (11%), topical imiquimod (3%), and radiotherapy (1%). Treatment recommendations included surgery (55%) (with either simple excision [31%] or excision with margin control under frozen-section guidance [24%]), radiotherapy (19%), topical imiquimod (10%), observation (7%), and electrodesiccation and curettage (4%). Conclusions: The NMSC clinic at our center sees a high volume of patients who benefit from the multidisciplinary assessment provided. Treatment recommendations were based on patient and disease characteristics as well as patient preference. </jats:sec