Treatment and frequency of follow-up of BCC patients in the Netherlands

Abstract

The incidence of Basal Cell Carcinoma (BCC) rises by 5% per decade in the Netherlands (1), representing an important burden on the health care system and dermatologists' workload (2,3). There is no evidence that intensive follow-up results in better outcomes (burden of disease, cosmetic results) in patients with low risk BCCs (4–6). According to the Dutch BCC guideline, follow-up after treatment is not indicated for patients with a low risk BCC (7), but patients may come for follow-up more frequently for various reasons (4,7,8). Considering the enormous amount of patients, extra follow-up visits represent a substantial workload and healthcare costs. Therefore, we studied follow-up of 482 BCC patients, diagnosed in 2010 from general hospitals (N=291 – random sample from a population-based cancer registry) and academic hospitals (N=191), who had a total of 578 BCC diagnosed in 2010. Information on medical history, tumor characteristics and the treatment and follow-up of all diagnosed BCCs was retrieved from the patient files until April 2015.

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