Head and Neck Non-Melanoma Skin Malignancies and Surgical Margins in Patients Over 75 Years of Age. Which Approach to use? Further Experience and Observations

Non-Melanoma Skin Malignancies (NMSM) mostly occur in the elderly population which has been significantly increasing in numbersfor the past two decades or more. The related health, economic and social costs have increased as well. The issues of handling these frail patients and the on-going care required for them have become more and more urgent. Skin malignancies, typically 2. Key words Skin cancers; Head and neck surgery; Head and neck oncology; Dermosurgery. 3. Introduction the basal and squamous cell carcinomas (cBCC and cSCC) are low risk tumors with a good prognosis in more than 90 % of the cases. The Authors already published the encouraging preliminary results of a highly-conservative, minimally-invasive approach, in patients over 75 years of age, where a strategy based on a single surgical excision followed by watchful follow-ups was adopted, even in cases that the histologic examination resulted in close or involved margins.