Axillary basal cell carcinoma: additional 25 patients and considerations

Background: Axillary basal cell carcinoma represents a rarely described occurrence in world literature.

Objective: To report our 14 years' experience of axillary basal cell carcinomas.

Methods: A review of Pathology department database is given.

Results: Twenty-five further patients with axillary basal cell carcinomas of 7367 basal cell carcinomas diagnosed are reported. These represent a percentage of 0.33%.The average age of patients was 64.96 years, not significantly different from the average age of patients with overall basal cell carcinomas. No patient had had previous radiant or immunosuppressive treatment or axillary sunburn. No patient had basal cell naevus syndrome. The subtypes involved were superficial and nodular. No patient of 17 patients followed up had recurrences or metastasis after 5 years of follow-up.

Conclusion: Axillary Basal cell carcinomas are rare. No particular predisposing or risk factor is recorded. They do not seem to be significantly more aggressive than other basal cell carcinomas.