What is the preferred treatment for a primary basal cell carcinoma?
GROUND: Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) is the most common nonmelanoma skin cancer in the world, with incidences varying between 146 and 317 per 100,000 population in the United States. This slow-growing, locally invasive tumor is most often successfully treated with outpatient office procedures. The authors performed a systematic literature review comparing the effectiveness of 7 treatment modalities for primary BCC: Mohs micrographic surgery (MMS), surgical excision (SE), cryosurgery (CS), curettage and electrodesiccation (CE), radiotherapy (RT), immunotherapy (IM) with interferon or fluorouracil, and photodynamic therapy (PDT) (the latter 2 are investigational). POPULATION STUDIED: The authors selected and summarized 18 studies, with a total number of 9930 patients treated for primary BCC: 2660 treated with MMS in 3 studies, 1303 with SE in 3 studies, 798 with CS in 4 studies, 4212 with CE in 6 studies, 862 with RT in 1 study, 95 with IM in 1 study, and 0 with PDT (no studies met the inc
