Risk of New Skin Neoplasms in Patients With History of Skin Cancer
Posted: Thursday, December 20, 2018
Patients with a history of skin cancer, including non-melanoma skin cancer, are at an increased risk of developing new skin neoplasms, especially older patients and those initially diagnosed with synchronous neoplasms, according to a study published in Scientific Reports. In addition, the authors observed that new neoplasms were typically the same histologic type as the first diagnosis.
Despite that non-melanoma skin cancer is not as lethal as other types of melanoma, based on the results of the study, it remains important for patients to undergo careful follow-up and total skin examinations, concluded Ana Filipa Duarte, MD, of Instituto CUF, Porto, Portugal, and colleagues.
The authors retrospectively assessed more than 1,500 skin neoplasms in 969 patients over 10 years. The authors recorded histologic type, including basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, malignant melanoma, or other; the anatomic location of the neoplasm; and whether they were infiltrative or invasive.
At a median follow-up of 45 months, the study authors observed subsequent skin neoplasms in 165 patients (17%). Factors significantly associated with an increased risk of developing metachronous tumors include the initial presence of synchronous neoplasms (P < .001) as well as older age (P < .001). There was a significant association between patients with a history of basal cell carcinomas and the development of new basal cell carcinomas (P = .03), whereas patients previously diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma were significantly associated with developing metachronous squamous cell carcinoma (P < .001).
“Further studies are needed to evaluate the best follow-up protocols according to patients’ risk factors and type of neoplasms diagnosed,” concluded the study authors.
