Imaging technologies for presurgical margin assessment of basal cell carcinoma

Abstract

Basal cell carcinoma is the most common cancer worldwide, necessitating the development of techniques to decrease treatment costs through efficiency and efficacy. Mohs micrographic surgery, a specialized surgical technique involving staged resection of the tumor with complete histologic evaluation of the peripheral margins, is highly utilized. Reducing stages by even 5% to 10% would result in significant improvement in care and economic benefits. Noninvasive imaging could aid in both establishing the diagnosis of suspicious skin lesions and streamlining the surgical management of skin cancers by improving presurgical estimates of tumor sizes. Herein, we review the current state of imaging techniques in dermatology and their applications for diagnosis and tumor margin assessment of basal cell carcinoma prior to Mohs micrographic surgery.

Keywords: Mohs micrographic surgery; basal cell carcinoma; confocal microscopy; dermatology; dermoscopy; digital photographic imaging; high-frequency ultrasound; margin assessment; optical coherence tomography; optical polarization imaging; photodynamic diagnosis; skin cancer.