Basal Cell Carcinomas of the Ear Are More Aggressive Than Those Sited Elsewhere

Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) is more common in the U.S. than all other cancers combined. Some BCC subtypes are more aggressive than others. Numerous factors enter into the evaluation of risk, including anatomic location. These researchers sought to determine whether BCCs of the ear have a statistically significant association with aggressive behavior. From a 2009 database at the University of California, San Francisco, containing 120,000 histopathologic diagnoses, they identified 471 BCCs of the ear and classified the first 100 as either high risk (basosquamous, infiltrative, metatypical, micronodular, or morpheic/sclerosing BCCs) or less aggressive (nodular, superficial BCCs). Controls were 100 consecutive BCCs of the cheek from the same dat…