WEDNESDAY, Sept. 25, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- Multiple methods are used to identify the correct site when the anatomic location of a nonmelanoma tumor is uncertain, according to a study published online Sept. 20 in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.
In a nationwide, prospective, multicenter study, Areeba Ahmed, M.D., from the Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, and colleagues estimated the frequency and characterized the management of skin cancer treated by surgery when the anatomic location of the tumor is in question.
The researchers found that 0.60 percent of the 17,076 cases at 22 centers were lesions in question for which site identification was initially uncertain; these cases occurred more often in male and older patients and in those biopsied more than 30 days previously. On average, surgeons employed 5.0 additional techniques to confirm the site location, including rechecking available documentation, performing an expanded physical examination, and asking the patient to point using a mirror (92, 91, and 62 percent, respectively). Photographs were requested from the biopsying provider in 15 percent of cases, and frozen section biopsies were obtained in 15 percent. The referring physician was contacted in 10 percent of cases. Surgeons succeeded in definitively identifying 82 percent of initially uncertain sites; the remaining 18 percent were postponed and were mainly at nonfacial sites.
"Site identification issues can be mitigated by promoting patient education so that patients are aware of the location of their biopsy site, and most importantly, by ensuring that high-resolution photos obtained by referring providers with visible anatomic landmarks are conveyed to the surgeon in a timely manner," the authors write.
Several authors disclosed ties to the pharmaceutical industry.
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