Epidemiological Trends, Surgical Approaches, And Short-Term Complications In Skin Cancer Patients

Abstract

Background: Primary skin cancers are among the commonest malignancies in the western world, and their incidence is growing globally as a result of multiple factors. However, the data regarding their pattern and their subsequent surgical management in developing countries such as Ethiopia are sparse. Objectives: To assess the pattern of skin cancers, options of surgical management and their short term complications among patients admitted to Plastic Unit of Jimma University Medical Center, Jimma, Ethiopia Methods: An institution-based, retrospective, cross-sectional study was carried out among patients with skin cancers. Data were collected using structured checklist. The data was entered using EPI-Info and analyzed using SPSS version 26. Descriptive statistics was used to describe the study participants and magnitude of short term complications was estimated with 95% confidence interval (CI).The association between the outcome variable and explanatory variables was analyzed using binary logistic regression. Simple logistic regression was used to screen candidate variables at p-value less than 0.25. The magnitude of association between explanatory variable and short term complications was estimated using adjusted odds ratio (AOR) with 95% CI and significance was declared at p-value of 0.05. Results: From total of 186 primary skin cancer patients SCC was most commonly prevalent skin cancer accounting for 73 (39.2%), followed by Cutaneous Melanoma (CM) 41 (22%).BCC is rare in this study; diagnosed as 5th primary skin malignancy. Both SSC and CM were most commonly diagnosed in the 7th decade. On the other hand Soft Tissue Sarcoma (STS) most commonly prevalent in 4th decade 10(5.4%). lower extremity 95(51.1%) being commonest anatomical site to be affected both by Squamous Cell Carcinoma (SCC) 51(69.9%) and Cutaneous Melanoma (CM) 24(58.5%).Commonly performed surgical procedure was LWE with Skin Graft 58 (31.2%). The overall surgical short term complications were 30.6%, most prevalent short-term complication being surgical site suppuration.