Basal cell carcinoma: treatment with imiquimod.

BACKGROUND: Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) is the most common cutaneous malignancy. There are various approaches to its treatment, but imiquimod, the immune response modifier, offers a topical, noninvasive, nonsurgical therapeutic option. METHODS: We present our experience of the treatment of 96 patients with BCCs during the period March 2002 to February 2004 at the Dermatology Department, Hospital Clínico S. Cecilio, Granada, Spain. One hundred and forty-one tumors (nodular, superficial, and pearly/ulcerated clinical types) were treated with imiquimod. RESULTS: The clinical cure rate at 12 months was 80-85%. CONCLUSION: Our experience indicates that imiquimod is a reasonable option for the treatment of BCC. It is low cost, can be delivered via ambulatory care, and has tolerable side-effects.

[Cutaneous leishmaniasis in a Senegal patient]. / Leishmaniasis cutánea en paciente senegalés.

Cutaneous leishmaniasis is a group of diseases with vast clinical polymorphism produced by protozoa of the genus Leishmania, that is acquired through the bite of sandflies. It is an endemic zoonosis in Spain, being the dog the main reservoir. In our country all forms of leishmaniasis are due to Leishmania infantum species, that usually produces mild lesions in uncovered areas, mainly in children. We report an imported case of cutaneous leishmaniasis in a Senegal patient that presented clinical characteristics unusually different from the typical lesions produced by L. infantum that we are used to evaluate. The lesions were multiple, large, very inflammatory and exudative; these differences may be attributed to the type of endemic leishmania in Senegal: L. major. Given the increase in immigrant population and travels abroad, it is essential for the dermatologist to become familiar with skin diseases of tropical areas that, in the near future, will be more common in daily clinical practice.