Recurrence of a basal cell carcinoma in a skin graft in spite of total excision. A case report

The authors report an original case of a recurrence of basal cell carcinoma in a skin graft recipient site. The skin graft was used to resurface the defect following complete excision of basal cell carcinoma in the mandibular angle area. Three answers can be given to the question of the origin of that new carcinoma: recurrence of the primary carcinoma, metastasis to a lymph node or a transfer of a basal cell carcinoma located into the skin graft which grew further. This last hypothesis remains the most probable because the histology of the two carcinomas was different and that the patient presented many others locations of basal cell carcinomas. Skin grafted areas must be checked for recurrence of basal cell carcinoma in such patients because invisible basal cell carcinoma can be transferred within the graft where they can grow for their own.