BMJ  2004;329 (25 September), doi:10.1136/bmj.329.7468.0-a

Basal cell carcinoma should be excised

Surgical excision provides the best long term results in people with basal cell carcinoma of the skin. Reviewing 25 randomised trials, Bath-Hextall and colleagues (p 705) found that little good quality research is available on the treatment of this most common cancer. Surgery, which showed the lowest failure rates, and radiotherapy seem to be the most effective treatments, but radiotherapy may cause scarring. Only one trial included adequate long term data on recurrence; most had a follow up period of six months or less.

Credit: DOIA


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to StumbleUpon StumbleUpon   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Article

Interventions for basal cell carcinoma of the skin: systematic review
Fiona Bath-Hextall, Jan Bong, William Perkins, and Hywel Williams
BMJ 2004 329: 705. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Access jobs at BMJ Careers
Whats new online at Student BMJ