A Retrospective Clinical Study of Skin Cancer: A Single Institution's Experience on 370 Cases.

Lee, Tae Sung; Pyon, Jai Kyong; Mun, Goo Hyun; Bang, Sa Ik; Oh, Kap Sung; Lim, So Young

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Original Article

Journal of the Korean Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons 2008;35(3):261-266.
Published online May 1, 2008.

A Retrospective Clinical Study of Skin Cancer: A Single Institution's Experience on 370 Cases.

Tae Sung Lee, Jai Kyong Pyon, Goo Hyun Mun, Sa Ik Bang, Kap Sung Oh, So Young Lim

Department of Plastic Surgery, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. pslisy@hanmail.net

Abstract

PURPOSE
The incidence of skin cancer is increasing throughout the world including Asian countries such as Korea. Still there are only limited reports of the clinical features of skin cancer in Korea, especially in the fields of plastic surgery. This study is to demonstrate the recent clinical trends of skin cancer and the treatment of skin cancer in Korea by analyzing a single institution's experience. METHODS: During a 11-year period, 370 patients visited our department for the excision of skin cancer. Data of the patients such as histopathologic diagnosis, primary site of the tumor, age and sex of the patient, operative methods were reviewed retrospectively.
RESULTS
We had 370 patients, 215 men and 155 women. The ages ranged from 10 to 95 years with a mean of 58.8 years. A total of 143 patients were diagnosed as basal cell carcinoma, while 100 were malignant melanoma, 80 were squamous cell carcinoma, 17 were dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans, and 30 were other miscellaneous skin cancers. Local flaps were the most frequently used reconstructive method after wide excision of the cancer, which was followed by primary closure, split-thickness skin graft, free flap and full- thickness skin graft.
CONCLUSION
There was a gradual increase in the incidence of skin cancer after the year 2000. Basal cell carcinoma had the highest incidence which frequently involved the sun-exposed regions in the old ages. Malignant melanoma showed a relatively high incidence compared with other previous studies in Korea. The extremities were the most frequent location for malignant melanoma. Clinical features of other various skin cancers were also reported in this study. The reconstructive method highly depends on the primary site of the cancer, while local flaps were the mostly used operative technique.

Keywords: Skin cancer; Basal cell carcinoma; Malignant melanoma

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