Pattern of Nonmelanoma Skin Cancers in Sikkim, India: A 3-year Clinicopathological Review.

Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), in combination, are referred to as Nonmelanoma skin cancers (NMSCs). NMSC has not been extensively studied in the population of the North eastern India as it has been done in the rest of India. This study was performed to understand the pattern of NMSCs in head and neck region in Sikkimese population. The present study is a retrospective analysis of NMSC of head and neck region that presented to the Department of ENT, Sikkim Manipal Institute of Medical sciences (SMIMS), a tertiary care center in Gangtok, Sikkim from July 2009 to July 2012. They were reviewed according to age, gender, site of involvement and histological types. Of the thirty-seven cases of NMSC analyzed during the 3 year study period, 24 cases were SCC and 13 cases were BCC. The most common age group for SCC was 40-50 years and BCC was 61-70 years. The most common site for both SCC and BCC was the upper lip. For SCC, the most common histologically type was well-differentiated and for BCC, it was the solid type. NMSCs comprise a small but significant proportion of all skin cancer patients in the world. SCC is the commonest variety unlike in western countries. The importance of understanding the risk factors as well as studying the frequency of histopathological patterns can help in the overall prognostic outlook for patients and also in planning an effective management.