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The incidence of metastatic basal cell carcinoma (mBCC) in Denmark, 1997–2010

  • Clinical Report
  • Published:
European Journal of Dermatology Aims and scope

Abstract

Background

Few data exist on the occurrence of metastatic basal cell carcinoma (mBCC).

Objective

To identify all cases of mBCC in Denmark over a 14-year period.

Methods

We searched the Danish National Patient Registry covering all Danish hospitals, the Danish Cancer Registry, the National Pathology Registry and the Causes of Death Registry during the period 1997 to 2010 for potential cases of mBCC registered according to the International classification of diseases ICD-10 and the International Systemized Nomenclature of Medicine (SNOMED).

Results

We identified 126,627 patients with a history of primary basal cell carcinoma (BCC) in the registries during the 14-year study period. Using case identifications from the four registries, a total of 170 potential mBCC cases were identified. However, after a pathology review, only five cases could be confirmed, of which three were basosquamous carcinomas. The 14-year cumulative incidence proportion of mBCC was 0.0039% (95% CI 0.0016–0.0083) among individuals with a history of previousBCC(n = 126,627) and 0.0001% (95% CI 0.0000–0.0002) in the general population.

Conclusion

MBCCis a rare disease and only a small proportion of potential cases identified in automated clinical databases or registries can be confirmed by pathology and medical record review.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Genentech, South San Francisco, CA, USA

    Mary Nguyen-Nielsen, Lars Pedersen & Jon Fryzek

  2. Genentech, South San Francisco, CA, USA

    Lisa Wang, Jeannie Hou, Howard Mackey & Margaret McCusker

  3. Department of Dermatology, Hôpital Saint-Louis, Paris, France

    Anne Braae Olesen

  4. Service de dermatologie, Hôpital Saint-Louis, Paris, France

    Nicole Basset-Seguin

  5. EpidStat Institute, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Jon Fryzek

  6. Institute of Pathology, Aalborg University Hospital, 9000, Aalborg, Denmark

    Mogens Vyberg

Authors
  1. Mary Nguyen-Nielsen
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  2. Lisa Wang
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  3. Lars Pedersen
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  4. Anne Braae Olesen
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  5. Jeannie Hou
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  6. Howard Mackey
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  7. Margaret McCusker
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  8. Nicole Basset-Seguin
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  9. Jon Fryzek
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  10. Mogens Vyberg
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mogens Vyberg.

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Nguyen-Nielsen, M., Wang, L., Pedersen, L. et al. The incidence of metastatic basal cell carcinoma (mBCC) in Denmark, 1997–2010. Eur J Dermatol 25, 463–468 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1684/ejd.2015.2546

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1684/ejd.2015.2546

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