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| |  AAD: Basal-Cell Carcinoma Appear Most Often in Embryonically Determined Facial Sites By Bruce Sylvester WASHINGTON, DC -- February 13, 2004 -- Basal-cell carcinoma (BCC) are 4 times more likely to appear on embryonic fusion planes (EFP) than other regions of the mid-face, researchers reported here on February 9th at the American Academy of Dermatology 62nd Annual Meeting. "While not conclusive, these findings add weight to the argument that, with equal sun exposure to this area, there could be a significant embryologic role in the eventual development of basal-cell carcinoma," said investigator Jessica C. Newman, MPH, instructor, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, United States. The researchers conducted their study to examine the predilection of mid-facial BCC for cutaneous anatomical sites correlated to EFP. The investigators added that, "EFP have been implicated in the pathogenesis of BCC; however, the relationship of these planes to the prevalence of BCC has not been systematically explored." The investigators used the database for March 2002-February 2003 at the Yale University Section of Dermatologic Surgery and Cutaneous Oncology to gather archived digital images from 1,457 histologically confirmed cases of head and neck BCC treated with Mohs micrographic surgery. They coded lesions according to specific locations, and identified mid-face BCC, allocating them to 1 of 2 anatomical domains depending on the particular EFP in which they appeared. The researchers calculated the relative tumour densities as the ratio of the proportion of tumours to skin surface in each domain. The researchers reported that, of the 1,457 BCCs treated, 859 appeared in the mid-face, and 35% were in a domain correlated to EFP (which included 11.3% of the midface area). They noted that, "EPF domain differed from the non-EPF domain with respect to level of sun exposure; the EPF domain receives significantly less sun (P < .001). There was no significant difference in terms of age (P = .211) and gender (P = .588), between the 2 domains." The relative tumour densities for the BCC in the EFP domain were 3.06 compared to a 0.74 for BCC in other areas (P < .001) The authors noted that, "...after adjusting for surface area, BCC was more than 4 times more likely to appear in EFP than on other regions of the mid-face. In the presence of equal sun exposure in this location, these data support the possibility of an embryologic role for the pathogenesis of BCC."
[Study Title: Correlation of Embryonic Fusion Planes With the Anatomical Distribution of Basel Cell Carcinoma. Abstract 26]
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