Open AccessClinical characteristics of malignant tumours originating in the external ear
Author(s) -
José Francisco Gallegos-Hernández,
Miguel Ángel Martínez-Méndez,
José A. Abrego-Vázquez,
Martín Hernández-Sanjuan,
Gerardo Gabriel Minauro-Muñoz,
Alma Lilia Ortiz-Maldonado
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
cirugía y cirujanos
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2444-0507
DOI - 10.1016/j.circen.2015.11.005
Subject(s) - medicine , occult , skin cancer , lymph node , melanoma , sentinel lymph node , cancer , stage (stratigraphy) , metastasis , basal cell carcinoma , pathology , neck dissection , sentinel node , carcinoma , basal cell , breast cancer , cancer research , paleontology , alternative medicine , biology
BackgroundSkin tumours that originate in the external ear are common in individuals with type 1 skin and phenotype 1 and 2. The skin cancer is associated with chronic or intermittent, but intense sunlight. The most common malignant tumour is basal cell carcinoma, followed by squamous cell carcinoma and melanoma. The diagnosis of squamous cell skin cancer in head and neck area is usually made in the advanced stages and has a poor prognosis.Material and methodsA cross-sectional, retrospective analysis was performed on the database of patients with skin cancer of the external ear treated between 2011 and 2014. Histology type, stage, rate of clinical and occult metastases, and rate of loco-regional recurrence were evaluated.ResultsOf the 42 patients included there were, 25 squamous cell carcinomas, 11 basal cell carcinomas, and 6 invasive melanomas. The rate of lymph node metastases in patients with squamous cell carcinoma was 32%, mostly in the parotid and peri-parotid region, 7% of them with capsular rupture, 2/17 were staged as cN0, and 11.7% had occult metastases. All patients with nodal metastasis were classified as T2 with ulceration.None of the patients with basal cell carcinoma had lymph node metastases.All melanomas were superficial extension type with mean level of Breslow of 3mm. All underwent lymphatic mapping and sentinel node biopsy, with only one having metastases in the sentinel node.ConclusionThe most frequent tumour in the external ear in this series was squamous cell carcinoma. The possibility of lymph node metastases is associated with tumour size (T). Node dissection should be systematic in patients with T2 or greater