View 2019 Abstracts

Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) is the most common skin malignancy, disproportionately occurring in sun exposed areas, such as the eyelids. Whilst surgical excision is considered the most effective method for treating periocular BCCs, there is a paucity of evidence as to which surgical technique is the most appropriate. Mohs micrographic surgery is likely to be superior to traditional surgical excision in achieving clear excision margins and sparing of tissues, but requires immediate access to histology. Slow Mohs surgery offers an alternative when immediate histology is unavailable, as tumour excision and reconstruction are performed in two separate procedures. In this retrospective case series is reported the 3 and 5 year outcomes following Slow Mohs surgery.

193 consecutive patients who had undergone Slow Mohs surgery, between January 2009 and December 2015 at a large district general hospital in the south of the UK, were identified retrospectively using electronic theatre records. Electronic lab reports and patient records were then utilized and the data analysed using EXCEL and SPSS.

157 patients had a diagnosis of BCC. Following exclusions, 137 survived to be included in the 3 year recurrence cohort. Of these, 2.92% recurred within 3 years. A smaller group of 68 patients survived and had follow-up lasting 5 years, within this group there was a recurrence rate of 4.41%.

Slow Mohs potentially achieves recurrence rates comparable to Mohs micrographic surgery, offering an alternative should immediate histological examination not be available. There currently exists little evidence comparing the techniques prospectively, nor is there cost comparison between them.