Insight into the number of pre-malignancies and malignancies of the skin in a hospital population in the Netherlands.

BACKGROUND

Skin cancer incidence is rising, placing a burden on healthcare systems worldwide. This problem may even be more extensive than expected, since registration of (pre)malignancies of the skin is poor.

OBJECTIVE

To provide insight into the numbers of (pre)malignancies in patients with actinic keratosis (AK) or basal cell carcinoma (BCC) in 2 university and 2 general hospitals.

METHODS

The types and numbers of previous tumours and of tumours during a two-year follow-up were collected from 574 patients.

RESULTS

Mean time between the first diagnosed (pre)malignancy and time of inclusion was 6.6 years. Overall, 60% had multiple types of (pre)malignancies. In BCC patients, 61% had multiple BCCs, in patients with squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), 40% had multiple SCCs. The combination 'BCC and SCC' occurred in 10%, 'BCC and AK' in 47%, 'SCC and AK' in 14%.

CONCLUSION

High numbers of patients with multiple (pre)malignancies were found in this patient population in university and general hospitals, which may well reflect the Dutch hospital population. We conclude that skin cancer patients are more extensively affected than was expected up till now. Consequently, the management of skin cancer may be in need of adaptation in near future and the question arises whether dermatologists have the capacity for providing care for all these patients.