Basal cell carcinoma may signal higher risk for other cancers, study finds

TOday.com ^ | Aug.09.2018 / 6:22 AM ET / | by Linda Carroll /

[BenLurkin]

People who develop a common benign skin carcinoma multiple times may be at increased risk for other more serious cancers, including blood, breast, colon and prostate cancers, a new study finds.

Stanford University researchers suspect the increased cancer susceptibility is caused by mutations in certain genes responsible for making proteins that repair DNA damage, according to the study published in JCI Insight. Multiple episodes of basal cell carcinoma are simply a sign of this susceptibility.

The new findings don’t mean anyone who develops a basal cell carcinoma once or twice has a higher risk of developing other cancers, said study coauthor Dr. Kavita Sarin, a dermatologist and an assistant professor of dermatology at the Stanford University School of Medicine.

“I don’t want people who develop one or two to panic,” Sarin said. “One in five people in the U.S. will develop a basal cell carcinoma. It’s very common and it’s not a sign of having an internal malignancy. If you develop six or more, then it’s worth talking to a physician about your family history and maybe getting referred for genetic testing.”

[yarddog]

I have had so many removed that I can’t remember the number. I am scheduled to have another large one, Monday.

Also a few squamous cell carcinomas and one melanoma. Fortunately the melanoma was in early stage. My Father had about as many as me but no one else in the family has them.

[M Kehoe]

Bttt.

5.56mm

[so_real]

If cancer is the symbiosis between a human cell and a fungal organism, then in stands to reason cancer at any one site, even highly localized, is an indicator of the potential for cancer to occur at other sites simply based upon the prolific nature of fungi. It's a sound hypothesis the article does not touch upon. I would love to see the the hypothesis tested and a theory emerge.

[Salvey]

I have had so many removed that I can’t remember the number.

Can you tell me the procedure employed to remove them? I just had a small basal cell lesion removed from my cheek via MOHS surgery, but I feel that MOHS was overkill in my case, and that perhaps another method should have been used.

[yarddog]

My Father many years ago had them frozen with nitrogen. A few were simple surgeries.

Some of my first ones were just sliced off with a scalpel by a dermatologist. They were very slow to heal. The last 20 or so were all cut off and stitched and they healed much faster.

I had one on the bridge of my nose which the dermatologist sent me to a plastic surgeon. He wanted to take so many steps that I just cancelled and went to the local surgeon.

The local surgeon did a bang up job. I noticed he put the stitches in really close and there is only a tiny scar now.

The one Monday is quite large on my back and the Dr. drew me a diagram of how he will do it. I really don’t understand it but it involves an S shaped incision as he said it was too large to just cut off.

[Salvey]

Thanks for your prompt reply. Good Luck Monday!
Do you know if any of the ones that were stitched were done with MOHS, where they take off microscopic slices, one at a time, until they find no more cancer cells? Reason I ask is that I had MOHS last year and now it looks as though another basal cell is popping up next to the one he removed.

[yarddog]

I had never heard of MOHS.

The melanoma was found by my new Dr. He is the Son of my old Dr. and I give him credit for finding it. The melanoma was actually on the back of my neck exactly where I had a basal cell removed around 20 years ago.

My Dr. is a Harvard grad so he probably has heard of it.

[so_real]

Did either of you consider Cansema?

[yarddog]

The Dr. has had me put Efudex on my arms. It basically made them look like there were full of sores but the Dr. said it was fine. Eventually they all healed but it didn’t seem to prevent cancers forming later.

[Gay State Conservative]

My Dermatologist,a senior member of the staff of one of Boston's major hospitals,has told me each time he's removed a basal cell (or squamous cell) carcinoma that there's *nothing* to worry about.

He's told me that I'm paying the price for 1) having the palest white skin known to science and 2) having been medium rare during the summers of my youth.

[1066AD]

I had a basal cell removed from my temple by Moh’s surgery. Doc said it was standard procedure for one on the head (not cheek).
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohs_surgery

[yarddog]

That sounds a little like what the plastic surgeon was going to do.

[doorgunner69]

MOHS is sort of like a vegetable peeler where they keep slicing off a .040" layer and send it to a lab to check of cancer cells. If there on the underside or out the the edges, it tell the dermatologist to go deepe next pass, and maybe a wider area. They keep going until the tissue sample shows they got it all.

Had quite a hole carved in the corner of my nose taking the crap out, needed a plastic surgeon to pull the mess back together. Another on my upper lip that ended up going up toward the nose more than the doc expected. The lab tells them where to keep slicing layers off.

[so_real]

Efudex does not look like a pleasant walk through the park. I managed a weird looking mole using Cansema. Superficial spreading melanoma was suspected, but I did not have it biopsied for fear of releasing it into the blood. The immune reaction was striking (and painful) and the weird looking mole is gone. So far so good about a year later. Fingers crossed.