5-YEAR RESULTS OF CURETTAGE-CRYOSURGERY OF SELECTED LARGE PRIMARY BASAL-CELL CARCINOMAS ON THE NOSE - AN ALTERNATIVE TREATMENT IN A GEOGRAPHICAL AREA UNDERSERVED BY MOHS SURGERY

Mohs' micrographic surgery (MMS) is the recommended treatment for larg e basal cell carcinomas (BCCs) of the nose. This 5-year follow-up stud y attempts to evaluate whether curettage-cryosurgery (CC) could be an alternative therapy in a country where optimal resources for MMS are l acking. All patients with a primary nasal or perinasal BBC, 10 mm or l arger in diameter, were assessed at a skin tumour clinic. Sixty-one BC Cs of non-morphoeiform type were treated with CC. Most of the tumour w as removed by careful curettage with different sized curettes. The tum our area was then frozen with liquid nitrogen in a double freeze-thaw cycle. Fifty patients were followed for at least 5 years with only one recurrence. The cosmetic result was good or acceptable in all patient s. A thorough curettage followed by cryosurgery could be a safe and in expensive alternative therapy even for large primary non-morphoeiform BCCs of the nose.