Solar damage in skin tumors: Quantification of elastotic material

Background: The elastotic changes of the dermis are thought to be the prima ry indicator of the cumulative! sun exposure of the dermis. The changes of elastotic material have been evaluated by several previous methods, but the se did not quantitatively measure the amount of elastic tissue. Objective: The purpose of this study was to quantify dermal elastosis and to assess th e significance of sun exposure in the pathogenesis of nonmelanomatous skin tumors such as basal cell carcinoma (BCC), squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) an d Bowen's disease (BD). Methods: Ninety-nine sections from biopsy specimens of histopathologically proven BCC, SCC and ED were stained with Verhoeff-v an Gieson stains. We studied the amount of elastotic material adjacent to t he tumor by image analysis. Results: There was a 3- to 4-fold increase in t he amount of elastotic material in BCG: and SCC compared to the sun-exposed skin of normal controls (p < 0.0001). The amount of elastotic material was increased 1.3 times in ED as compared with the nonexposed skins of normal controls (p < 0.01). conclusion: We demonstrated a quantitative relationshi p between cumulative solar exposure and skin cancer such as SCC, BCC and ED . Copyright (C) 2001 S. Karger AG, Basel.