Recurrence of basosquamous carcinoma after Mohs micrographic surgery.

BACKGROUND: The recurrence rate of basal cell carcinoma (BCC) after Mohs micrographic surgery (MMS) is well documented. Only little is published concerning the recurrence rate in relation to the different histologic subgroups.

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the recurrence rate of the different histologic groups and subgroups after MMS.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS: We investigated 1,000 cases of epidermal tumors in a private center of MMS including BCC, squamous cell carcinoma and basosquamous carcinoma (BSC) treated by MMS from 1998 to 2007 in a retrospective study. The cases where analyzed regarding the histologic groups and subgroups. The mean follow-up time was 59.55 months.

RESULTS: The recurrence rate of epidermal tumors in this study was about 2.5% and comparable to that in the literature. Interestingly we observed a relatively high incidence and recurrence rate of BSC compared to other studies.

CONCLUSION: BSC seems to be highly aggressive and subject to recurrence even after MMS. The classical approach to stop further excision once the excision is total should be reevaluated.