Epidemiological and pathological aspects of skin cancer in North East of Romania.

UNLABELLED: In the last years skin cancer has become the most frequent cancer in humans, with the majority made up of two tumors: malignant melanoma (MM) and non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC).

AIM: To provide for the first time in the North East region of Romania, descriptive epidemiological data of melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: We undertook a retrospective study over a five year period on the most frequent forms of skin cancer, basal cell carcinoma (BCC), squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and MM, which included a total number of 1231 patients, hospitalized and treated in the Plastic Surgery Department of "St. Spiridon" Emergency Clinical Hospital, Iaşi from 2008 until 2012. Results: BCC was diagnosed in a total of 675 patients, representing 54.9%. SCC was found in 217 patients, representing 17.6% and melanoma was diagnosed in 119 cases, a percent of 9.7% of the total number. The predominance of cutaneous malignancies waried with age, major site distribution was face and neck for BCC and SCC and the trunk for MM.

RESULTS: This article describes the most common forms of skin cancer in our region, BCC (almost 55%), SCC (17.6%), and less in number MM (near to 10%); these results are similar to those published abroad in the last years.

CONCLUSIONS: Future more elaborate interventional studies are necessary to identify the main risk factors in order to design the best preventive methods and, according to the skin cancer trend to specify the needs for dermatology network in our country.