Optical coherence tomography for presurgical delineation of basal cell carcinomas on the face—A comparison with histopathology

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Background: To minimize the risk of incomplete excision of basal cell carcinomas (BCC) the macroscopic tumor margins should be adequately defined. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a non-invasive imaging tool that can provide structural and vascular information about skin cancer lesions. The study objective was to compare the presurgical delineation of facial BCC by clinical examination, histopathology, and OCT imaging in tumors undergoing full excision. Methods: Ten patients with BCC lesions on the face were examined clinically, with OCT and histopathology at 3-mm intervals, from the clinical lesion border and beyond the resection line. The OCT scans were evaluated blinded and a delineation estimate of each BCC lesion was made. The results were compared to the clinical and histopathologic results. Results: OCT evaluations and histopathology were in agreement in 86.6% of the collected data points. In three cases the OCT scans estimated a reduction of the tumor size compared to the clinical tumor border set by the surgeon. Conclusion: The results of this study support the notion that OCT can have a role in the clinical daily practice by aiding clinicians in delineating BCC lesions before surgery.

Original languageEnglish
JournalJournal of Cutaneous Pathology
Volume50
Issue number5
Pages (from-to)441-449
Number of pages9
ISSN0303-6987
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2023

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Authors. Journal of Cutaneous Pathology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

    Research areas

  • basal cell carcinoma, dermatologic oncology, non-invasive imaging, optical coherence tomography, tumor delineation

ID: 359557343