15 years' experience with treatment of basal cell carcinomas of the skin with curettage.

At the Department of Dermatology in the Finsen Institute we have since the beginning of the 1960's been especially interested in the treatment of skin tumors. Curettage is used in combination with a number of other treatment modalities and, therefore, it has been important to assess the value of curettage as the only therapy of basal cell carcinomas (b.c.c.). Gradually, curettage has come to be the normal treatment of b.c.c. of the skin in very large patient materials. The curettage is supplemented with X-ray therapy in cases where the demarcation in the depth is uncertain, while electrocauterization is used if the limits between a tumor and the surrounding skin are not sharp. 3 patient groups have been followed at regular intervals, and the results of these are described and discussed. The groups comprise firstly 525 patients with solitary tumors, secondly a special group consisting of 180 b.c.c. of the eyelid region and thirdly a group of 673 patients with multiple b.c.c. Considering the benign character of the tumors, their frequent localization on the face, the low age of many patients, and especially the nice results from the cosmetic point of view, it is concluded that curettage as the only treatment of b.c.c. ought to be a part of the therapeutic routine in a modern Department of Dermatology.