Histopathological pattern of skin cancer in Western region of Saudi Arabia: An 11 years experience

OBJECTIVES: To determine the histopathological pattern of skin cancer in Madinah region of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). METHODS: This is a retrospective study including all cases with a histological diagnosis of skin cancer diagnosed at the Department of Pathology, King Fahad Hospital, Madinah, Saudi Arabia, between January 2006 and December 2017. Data included age, gender, site and histology of the tumor were collected from histopathological reports and analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 21. RESULTS: Among the 202 cancer cases studied in our series, there were 124 (61.4%) cases of basal cell carcinoma (BCC), 33 (16.3%) cases of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), 14 (6.8%) cases of mycosis fungoides (MF), 12 (5.8%) cases of dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans (DFSP) and 7 (3.7%) cases of malignant melanomas (MM). The male to female ratio for all cases was 2.2:1. The ages ranged from 5 to 100 years with a mean age of 60.1±15 years. The peak age distribution was in the 60-69 year group. The most common site involved in BCC and SCC was the head and neck (92.7% and 66.7%) respectively). Acral distribution of MM was seen in 57.1% of the cases. CONCLUSION: Our data based on the histopathology history in the Madinah region match that in the world literature and Saudi national studies.