Clinicopathologic features and prognostic factors of malignant eyelid tumors

AIM:To investigate the clinical characteristics and prognosis of patients with malignant eyelid tumors.·METHODS:This was a retrospective,non-randomized,clinical reviews.Between January,2002 and December,2011,75 cases with histologically confirmed malignant eyelid tumors were evaluated.Patients’ charts were reviewed for clinical information,treatment procedure,and disease course.Survival analysis in terms of recurrence-free survival was performed using age,sex,location of tumor and histopathological type.The followup ranged from 1 to 78 months(mean=21 months).·RESULTS:The 75 eyelid tumors included 35 basal cell carcinoma(BCC,46.7%),22 sebaceous gland carcinoma(SGC,29.3%),7 squamous cell carcinoma(SCC,9.3%),10 malignant melanoma(MM,13.3%),and 1 Merkel cell carcinoma(MCC,1.3%).Recurrence developed in 17cases(22.7%).The recurrence rate of BCC(4/35,11.4%)was significant lower than MM(6/10,60.0%,P <0.001).The mean interval of recurrence was 21 months(range 3-62) for all eyelid tumors.Tumor located at canthus had higher recurrence rate(50%) compared with those located at eyelid(19%,P <0.05).Histological type was independent variable for recurrence by Cox regression analysis.·CONCLUSION:It is important to achieve a negative tumor margin in canthus located malignant eyelid tumor.Clinicians should have a high level of suspicion for recurrence according to histological type when treating patients with eyelid tumor.