RSS Feeds
New Types of Cancer after Basal-Cell Cancer
The Editors welcome submissions for possible publication in the Letters section. Authors of letters should:
•Include no more than 300 words of text, three authors, and five references
•Type with double-spacing
•Send three copies of the letter, an authors' form signed by all authors, and a cover letter describing any conflicts of interest related to the contents of the letter.
Letters commenting on an Annals article will be considered if they are received within 6 weeks of the time the article was published. Only some of the letters received can be published. Published letters are edited and may be shortened; tables and figures are included only selectively. Authors will be notified that the letter has been received. If the letter is selected for publication, the author will be notified about 3 weeks before the publication date. Unpublished letters cannot be returned.
Annals welcomes electronically submitted letters.
TO THE EDITOR:
Frisch and colleagues [1] reported an increased risk for extracutaneous cancer in patients with basal-cell cancer and refer to a similar risk in patients with squamous-cell skin cancer [2]. There is an additional piece to the puzzle of the association between cutaneous and extracutaneous cancer: the relation between keratoacanthoma and extracutaneous cancer.
Keratoacanthomas are skin lesions that histologically appear malignant, resemble squamous-cell tumors, but undergo spontaneous involution. Because this involution can be followed by scarring, keratoacanthomas located in cosmetically or functionally significant areas (such as the eyelid and nose) are sometimes treated with radiation to hasten involution and avoid scarring.
In 1983, Shimm and colleagues [3] described 13 patients with irradiated facial keratoacanthomas, 5 of whom also had extracutaneous cancer. Three patients had had cancer (gastric adenocarcinoma, malignant mixed tumor of the minor salivary glands, and epidermoid cancer of the nasal septum) before diagnosis of keratoacanthoma, 1 had a large-cell lymphoma at the same time as the diagnosis of keratoacanthoma, and 1 had transitional-cell carcinoma of the bladder 5 years after treatment of keratoacanthoma. Other researchers have also noted this association [4, 5].
As clinicians become aware of the need for vigilance in following their patients with skin cancer for extracutaneous cancers, it is important that they extend this same attention to patients with keratoacanthoma, whose risk seems even higher.
David S. Shimm, MD
University of Arizona Health Sciences Center; Tucson, AZ 85724
The Editors welcome submissions for possible publication in the Letters section. Authors of letters should:
•Include no more than 300 words of text, three authors, and five references
•Type with double-spacing
•Send three copies of the letter, an authors' form signed by all authors, and a cover letter describing any conflicts of interest related to the contents of the letter.
Letters commenting on an Annals article will be considered if they are received within 6 weeks of the time the article was published. Only some of the letters received can be published. Published letters are edited and may be shortened; tables and figures are included only selectively. Authors will be notified that the letter has been received. If the letter is selected for publication, the author will be notified about 3 weeks before the publication date. Unpublished letters cannot be returned.
Annals welcomes electronically submitted letters.
- Copyright ©2004 by the American College of Physicians
