A Statistical Study of Cutaneous Malignant Tumors

Moon, Sang Eun; Cho, Kwang Hyun; Hwang, Ji Hwan; Kim, Jeong Aee; Youn, Jai Il

Abstract

BACKGROUND: There is concem about the rising incidence of skin cancer. However, few articles have reported the change in the clinical and epidemiological aspects of skin cancer.
OBJECTIVE
We performed this study in order to clarifiy the recent changes in cutaneous premalignant and malignant lesions.
METHODS
A statistical analysis was made using 101 cases of cutaneous premalignant lesions and 205 cases of ma]ignant tumors out of a total number of 20,175 new outpatients that visited the Department of Dermatology at the Seoul National University Hospital during a 6 year period(1990-1995).
RESULTS
The frequency of premalignant lesions was 0.50% and that of malignant tumors was 1.02%. The frequency showed an increasing tendency compared to previous reports. In the premalignant lesion cases, actinic keratosis was most common and represented a figure of 82.2%. Among the malignant tumors, basal cell carcinoma was most frequent at 24.4%. Age, sex and anatomical site distribution of basal cell carcinoma, malignant melanoma was no different. The mean age of squamous cell carcinoma was greater than in previous reports and main preceding lesions were actinic keratosis and cheilitis. The frequency of lymphoma was markedly increased but the reason for this remains to be determined.
CONCLUSION
Our findings showed the continous increasing incidence of skin cancers and emphasize the need for public eduacation, early diagnosis and proper treatment.