Sentinel lymph node biopsy for high risk cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma: case series and review of the literature.

AIMS: Cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is the second most common skin cancer. The metastatic potential is generally low. However, there are subgroups of patients at higher risk, for whom sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) might be useful. SLNB might allow the timely inclusion of high risk patients in more aggressive treatment protocols, sparing at the same time node-negative patients the morbidity of potentially unnecessary therapy. Our aim was to introduce the concept of SLNB for patients with high risk cutaneous SCC. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We examined a consecutive series of high risk cutaneous SCC patients undergoing SLNB at our large dermatological hospital, and performed a literature review and pooled analysis of all published cases of SLNB for cutaneous SCC. RESULTS: Among the 22 clinically node-negative patients undergoing SLNB at our hospital, one patient (4.5%) showed a histologically positive sentinel node and developed recurrences during follow-up. Sentinel node-negative patients showed no metastases at a median follow-up of 17 months (range: 6-64). The incidence of positive sentinel nodes in previous reports ranged between 12.5% and 44.4%. Pooling together patients from the present and previous studies (total 83 patients), we calculated an Odds Ratio of 2.76 (95% CI 1.2-6.5; p=0.02) of finding positive sentinel nodes for an increase in tumor size from <2 cm to 2.1-3 cm to >3 cm. CONCLUSIONS: Our case series and the pooled analysis support the concept that SLNB can be performed for high risk cutaneous SCC. Prospective multicenter studies are needed to examine the role, utility and cost-effectiveness of SLNB for this population.

Health related quality of life assessment in the routine clinical practice of a dermatology unit.

A descriptive study in a Dermatological Research Institution in Rome, Italy, was conducted to test the feasibility and acceptability of health related quality of life (HRQoL) assessment in the daily routine. Quality of life, and psychosocial distress evaluations were obtained for each patient. Patients were invited to complete the Skindex-29, GHQ-12, and SF-36. Results were returned to the clinical staff using standardised feed-back forms with: a) "categories" of QoL scores to help interpreting Skindex-29 scores; b) "warnings" pointing out problems that patients experienced "all the time"; c) categories of GHQ-12 scores for minor psychiatric problems; d) the classical SF-36 graph depicting the patient's "QoL profile" with normative references. The clinical staff were trained, and then their attitudes and behaviours were surveyed using a standardised questionnaire. For all 170 participants enrolled (63% males, 35% age > 64 years), feed-back forms were provided within three hours from data collection. For patients with repeated hospitalisations time-trends in HRQoL measurements were also provided. The acceptability, both for patients and the clinical staff, was high but the actual impact on clinical activities was limited. The routine assessment of HRQoL in dermatology is feasible and well accepted both by patients and by the clinical staff. The application of these widely used questionnaires should be implemented in a larger scale and evaluated in different settings.

Inflammatory cutaneous metastasis from laryngeal carcinoma.

The authors report the case of a 64-year-old man who presented with erythematous infiltrating plaques sited on his right supraclavicular and infraclavicular regions. Five years before a laryngeal epidermoid carcinoma had been surgically removed. After two years the patient underwent lymphadenectomy and radiotherapy for the presence of metastasis in his right cervical lymph nodes. He was disease free until two months before our examination when small red spots appeared on his right supraclavicular region, slightly enlarging. A skin biopsy was performed and histological examination showed the presence of metastatic cells inside dilated lymphatic vessels. Immunohistochemical markers showed only positive staining of atypical cells with monoclonal anti-cytokeratin antibodies (cytokeratin B-ORTHO=34betaE12) confirming the epithelial origin of metastastic cells. A diagnosis of inflammatory cutaneous metastasis from laryngeal epidermoid carcinoma was given. This type of metastasis has been frequently observed in patients with breast carcinoma and it has also been described during the course of other malignant tumours. Malignant tumour of the larynx generally spreads to regional lymph nodes or, through blood, to the lungs. Skin metastasis have rarely been described, and always as multiple or solitary nodules. According to our knowledge this is the first case of inflammatory cutaneous metastasis from laryngeal epidermoid carcinoma reported in the literature.