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Treatment of basal cell carcinoma in S candinavia: evidence or eminence based?
Author(s) -
Helsing Per,
Gjersvik Petter,
Tarstedt Mikael
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
international journal of dermatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.677
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1365-4632
pISSN - 0011-9059
DOI - 10.1111/ijd.12599
Subject(s) - medicine , basal cell carcinoma , danish , norwegian , skin cancer , dermatology , family medicine , surgery , basal cell , cancer , pathology , philosophy , linguistics
Background Basal cell carcinoma ( BCC ) is a locally destructive form of skin cancer, mainly affecting C aucasians. There are multiple treatment options for BCC , with excisional surgery being most widely used. Choice of treatment may be dependent on clinical guidelines, local therapeutic traditions, and/or personal experience. Sweden is the only Scandinavian country with treatment guidelines for BCC . Methods Eighty‐six dermatologists from S weden, D enmark, and N orway that were attending a meeting on photodynamic therapy were presented case history and clinical photographs of nine different BCC s and asked to select their treatment of choice among multiple options by the use of an electronic audience response system. Results Treatment of choice differed substantially between dermatologists from the three countries. S wedish dermatologists more often chose excisional surgery (median 50%, range 0–90%) than their D anish (median 19%, range 0–44%) and N orwegian (median 35%, range 0–65%) colleagues. Very few Swedish dermatologists chose radiation therapy in the four cases where this was an option. Photodynamic therapy was more often selected by N orwegian dermatologists compared to S wedish and D anish dermatologists. Conclusions The treatment choices of S wedish dermatologists in cases of BCC are generally in line with Swedish treatment guidelines. National treatment guidelines for BCC should be established in all countries, including D enmark and N orway.