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SKIN CANCERS AT TERTIARY REFERRAL SKIN HOSPITAL IN SINGAPORE
Author(s) -
TAN SUAT HOON,
THAM SIEW NEE,
GOH CHEE LEOK
Publication year - 1995
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/j.1365-4362.1995.tb04395.x
Subject(s) - medicine , mycosis fungoides , basal cell carcinoma , trunk , skin cancer , dermatology , basal cell , cancer , bowen's disease , pathology , lymphoma , ecology , biology
Background . Skin cancer is the seventh most common cancer in Singapore. This study was performed to determine the pattern of skin cancers seen in a tertiary referral skin hospital. Methods . Histologically confirmed skin cancers, seen between 1980 and 1991, were analyzed according to age, sex, race, site, and presence/absence of preexisting skin conditions. Results . Of a total of 520 patients, the commonest skin cancer was basal cell carcinoma ( bcc ) (36.5%), followed by squamous cell carcinoma ( scc ) (24.4%), Bowen's disease (16.7%), and mycosis fungoides (9.0%). Malignant melanomas (2.7%) were rare. The sharp increase (26.2%) in bcc in the recent 3 years was largely contributed by a fivefold increase of nonresident Caucasian patients with bcc . All types of skin cancers were more common in Chinese (78.1%) and less frequent in the more pigmented races (9.4%). The men to women ratio was 1.72:1. The peak age distribution was in the 51–70‐year group, with the exception of mycosis fungoides (31–50 years). The commonest site involved in bcc was the head and neck (67.0%) and in Bowen's disease the trunk (33.3%). Squamous cell carcinoma was found on the head and neck and the lower extremities with equal frequency (29.3%) and 46.2% of all sec on the lower extremities occurred in leprosy patients with chronic trophic ulcers. Of patients with Bowen's disease involving the nonsunexposed parts (trunk and upper extremities), 42.6% had probable arsenic exposure evident either from the history or clinical examination. Malignant melanomas were commonly located on the foot (71.4%). Conclusions . The commonest skin cancers seen were bcc , sec, Bowen's disease, and mycosis fungoides. There were differences in the site distribution of sec, Bowen's disease, and malignant melanomas in our study when compared to studies in Caucasians.