Review of infection and bleeding complications in excisional skin surgery.

Skin excision is the primary treatment for skin cancer. Complication rates from skin cancer excision are generally low but rates of complications may vary according to procedural complexity, site and patient factors. It is important that patients are fully informed through the consent process considering individual circumstances, the Montgomery ruling and material risks. The clinician must use an evidence-based approach to the consent process and assessment of risk. We have searched the literature and reviewed the current evidence regarding complications, and their incidence where data were available, following excisional skin surgery. This article aims to enable clinicians to better inform patients during the consent process about associated bleeding and infection risk.

A national clinician survey on the British Society for Dermatological Surgery guidelines on antithrombotic agent use in skin surgery.

Antithrombotic medication is taken by 14-22% patients undergoing skin surgery, with more patients now taking direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs). The latest evidence suggests that the risk of stopping DOACs perioperatively is low in skin surgery, particularly for primary closures, but remains unclear for more complex procedures. The 2016 British Society for Dermatological Surgery (BSDS) guidelines suggest that clinicians could consider stopping DOACs in patients for 24-48 h, based on individual bleeding risk. We surveyed BSDS members to better understand clinical practice and guideline adherence with a view to updating the guidance. The results demonstrated that there is consistency among clinicians in the management of patients on more established antithrombotic agents, such as aspirin, clopidogrel and warfarin. However, there is a higher perceived risk of significant haematomas following higher-risk procedures such as larger flaps or grafts with DOACs vs. other antithrombotics postoperatively. Stopping DOACs perioperatively for 24-48 h for higher-risk procedures can be cautiously considered following an individual risk assessment and informed discussion with the patient.

Appraisal of AI-generated dermatology literature reviews.

BACKGROUND: Artificial intelligence (AI) tools have the potential to revolutionize many facets of medicine and medical sciences research. Numerous AI tools have been developed and are in continuous states of iterative improvement in their functionality. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to assess the performance of three AI tools: The Literature, Microsoft's Copilot and Google's Gemini in performing literature reviews on a range of dermatology topics. METHODS: Each tool was asked to write a literature review on five topics. The topics chosen have recently had peer-reviewed systematic reviews published. The outputs of each took were graded on their evidence and analysis, conclusions and references on a 5-point Likert scale by three dermatologists who are working in clinical practice, have completed the UK dermatology postgraduate training examination and are partaking in continued professional development. RESULTS: Across all five topics chosen, the literature reviews written by Gemini scored the highest. The mean score for Gemini for each review was 10.53, significantly higher than the mean scores achieved by The Literature (7.73) and Copilot (7.4) (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: This paper shows that AI-generated literature reviews can provide real-time summaries of medical literature across a range of dermatology topics, but limitations to their comprehensiveness and accuracy are apparent.

International, prospective cohort study comparing non-absorbable versus absorbable sutures for skin surgery: CANVAS service evaluation.

BACKGROUND: Absorbable or non-absorbable sutures can be used for superficial skin closure following excisional skin surgery. There is no consensus among clinicians nor high-quality evidence supporting the choice of suture. The aim of the present study was to determine current suture use and complications at 30 days after excisional skin surgery. METHODS: An international, prospective service evaluation of adults undergoing excision of skin lesions (benign and malignant) in primary and secondary care was conducted from 1 September 2020 to 15 April 2021. Routine patient data collected by UK and Australasian collaborator networks were uploaded to REDCap©. Choice of suture and risk of complications were modelled using multivariable logistic regression. RESULTS: Some 3494 patients (4066 excisions) were included; 3246 (92.9 per cent) were from the UK and Ireland. Most patients were men (1945, 55.7 per cent), Caucasian (2849, 81.5 per cent) and aged 75-84 years (965, 27.6 per cent). The most common clinical diagnosis was basal cell carcinoma (1712, 42.1 per cent). Dermatologists performed most procedures, with 1803 excisions (44.3 per cent) on 1657 patients (47.4 per cent). Most defects were closed primarily (2856, 81.9 per cent), and there was equipoise in regard to use of absorbable (2127, 57.7 per cent) or non-absorbable (1558, 42.2 per cent) sutures for superficial closure. The most common complications were surgical-site infection (103, 2.9 per cent) and delayed wound healing (77, 2.2 per cent). In multivariable analysis, use of absorbable suture type was associated with increased patient age, geographical location (UK and Ireland), and surgeon specialty (oral and maxillofacial surgery and plastic surgery), but not with complications. CONCLUSION: There was equipoise in suture use, and no association between suture type and complications. Definitive evidence from randomized trials is needed.

Skin surgery training: a literature review of methods and their efficacy.

Skin surgery ranges from small biopsies to Mohs micrographic surgery and excisions necessitating complex skin flap design or grafting. For all dermatology doctors in training there is a need to acquire competence to perform skin surgery safely, in an appropriate timeframe and with minimal complication rates. There exist a range of different methods, with varying reliance upon advancing technology, to teach skin surgery and to refine surgical skills before procedures are performed on patients. We searched PubMed, MEDLINE and SCOPUS databases to identify all papers relevant to postgraduate dermatology skin surgery teaching and training published in the past 10 years in English (see Appendix S1 in the Supporting Information for our search strategy). This yielded 440 results, for which all abstracts were screened. Manuscripts related to aesthetic surgery training, such as robotic hair transplantation training are excluded.

Performance of ChatGPT on dermatology Specialty Certificate Examination multiple choice questions.

ChatGPT is a large language model trained on increasingly large datasets by OpenAI to perform language-based tasks. It is capable of answering multiple-choice questions, such as those posed by the dermatology SCE examination. We asked two iterations of ChatGPT: ChatGPT-3.5 and ChatGPT-4 84 multiple-choice sample questions from the sample dermatology SCE question bank. ChatGPT-3.5 achieved an overall score of 63.1%, and ChatGPT-4 scored 90.5% (a significant improvement in performance (p<0.001)). The typical pass mark for the dermatology SCE is 70-72%. ChatGPT-4 is therefore capable of answering clinical questions and achieving a passing grade in these sample questions. There are many possible educational and clinical implications for increasingly advanced artificial intelligence (AI) and its use in medicine, including in the diagnosis of dermatological conditions. Such advances should be embraced provided that patient safety is a core tenet, and the limitations of AI in the nuances of complex clinical cases are recognised.

A UK-wide study to describe resource consumption and waste management practices in skin surgery including Mohs micrographic surgery.

BACKGROUND: There is a lack of national guidance specifying how skin surgery, including Mohs micrographic surgery (MMS), should be conducted, leading to a degree of heterogeneity in the set-up of skin surgery services and how skin surgeries are performed. OBJECTIVES: To provide the first UK-wide cross-sectional study reporting real-world data on the set-up and waste management practices of skin surgery, including MMS. METHODS: A UK-wide service evaluation study was conducted between 1 March 2022 and 30 June 2022 using a standardized data collection pro forma. Twelve participating sites from England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales provided data from 115 skin surgery lists involving 495 patients and 547 skin surgery procedures between 1 March 2022 and 30 June 2022. RESULTS: Mean total weight of nonsharps skin surgery waste was 0.52 kg per procedure (0.39 kg clinical waste, 0.05 kg general waste and 0.08 kg recycling waste). Data from a single site using disposable surgical instruments reported a mean of only 0.25 kg of sharps waste per procedure. The recycling rate ranged between 0% and 44% across the cohort with a mean recycling rate of 16%. CONCLUSIONS: We advocate that staff transition to the British Society of Dermatological Surgery 2022 sustainability guidance, which made wide-ranging recommendations to facilitate staff to transition to sustainable practices in skin surgery.

Local anaesthetics in dermatological surgery: a review of adjuncts and pain reduction techniques.

A variety of adjuncts for local anaesthesia (LA) exists for dermatological surgery, along with many options to reduce the pain of LA. This review aims to summarize the evidence relating to such adjuncts and methods to reduce the pain of LA. Adjuncts to LA can be an important consideration to optimize anaesthetic effect. Current evidence suggests that buffering and warming of LA fluid, along with cooling, pinching and administering vibrations to the skin are effective at reducing pain during administration. In this review, no significant difference in pain reduction was found between cooling and administering vibrations to the skin. Studies demonstrate that, overall, LA injection into distal sites is safe. However, the evidence specific to dermatological surgery is limited with regard to ways to reduce pain during LA injection and in determining the safety of LA for distal sites with confidence. Further high-quality research in the form of multicentre randomized controlled trials is required.

A review of Mohs micrographic surgery for skin cancer. Part 3: Squamous cell carcinoma.

This review presents and discusses the evidence for MMS to treat cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC). The MEDLINE, Embase and Cochrane databases were searched; 39 papers were identified for recurrence and 2 papers for cost-effectiveness. We included all clinical trials and observational studies, including retrospective reports, and excluded editorials and systematic reviews or meta-analyses. We categorized the evidence under the following headings: tumour recurrence, specific site outcomes (ear, lip, scalp and periocular), cSCC with perineural invasion, and cost-effectiveness. Although there are many observational studies indicating the potential benefits of MMS in the management of certain cSCCs, no randomized controlled trials (RCT) were identified. The evidence from comparitor studies suggests that MMS has a lower recurrence rate than that of other treatments for cSCC, including standard excision. Many studies identified were single-armed, but did demonstrate a low to very low recurrence rate of cSCC following MMS. A single recent study suggests MMS for intermediate cSCC is highly cost-effective compared with wide local excision when all-in costs are considered. Since the overall quality of included studies was mixed and highly heterogeneous, further methodologically robust studies with comparator arms or comprehensive long-term registry data would be valuable. It would be ideal to employ a definitive multicentre RCT but given the evidence to date and multiple advantages to MMS, the lack of clinical equipoise makes this difficult to justify. Comparison with current modalities would likely not be ethical/achievable on a like-for-like basis given MMS provides 100% margin assessment, enables histological clearance prior to reconstruction, and minimizes the removal of uninvolved tissue.

Use of perioperative prophylactic antibiotics following excision of ulcerated skin lesions in the UK: a national, multispeciality survey of clinicians.

Skin cancer is the most common malignancy in the UK, and up to a third of lesions are ulcerated at the time of excision. Ulceration has been shown to increase the risk of developing surgical site infection following excision, with some studies finding infection rates of 33%. However, no specific guidelines for the use of antibiotic prophylaxis in such cases exist. We surveyed 129 clinicians (covering Dermatology, Plastic Surgery, Ear, Nose and Throat Surgery, and Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery) who all excise skin lesions on a regular basis. There was significant variability in their practice with regard to antibiotic prophylaxis, with 9% always prescribing them and 19% never prescribing them. Variation exists both among and between specialities. This variation increases the risk of antimicrobial resistance and shows a paucity of good clinical evidence, indicating that a well-designed clinical trial is needed to guide future practice.

A review of Mohs micrographic surgery for skin cancer. Part 1: Melanoma and rare skin cancers.

Mohs micrographic surgery (MMS) is a precise and effective method commonly used to treat high-risk basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma on the head and neck. Although the majority of evidence for MMS relates to keratinocyte cancers, there is published evidence for other types of skin cancer. This review aims to discuss the evidence for using MMS to treat six different types of skin cancer [malignant melanoma, lentigo maligna, dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans, atypical fibroxanthoma (AFX), microcystic adnexal carcinoma and pleomorphic dermal sarcoma (PDS)] particularly in the context of survival rates and cancer recurrence. These cancers were chosen because there was sufficient literature for inclusion and because MMS is most useful when cancers are contiguous, rather than for cancers with marked metastatic potential such as angiosarcoma or Merkel cell carcinoma. We searched MEDLINE, PubMed and Embase using the keywords: 'melanoma', 'mohs micrographic surgery', 'lentigo maligna', 'dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans', 'atypical fibroxanthoma', 'microcystic adnexal carcinoma' and 'pleomorphic dermal sarcoma' along with their appropriate synonyms, to identify the relevant English-language articles from 2000 onwards, given that literature for MMS on nonkeratinocyte cancers is sparse prior to this year. AMSTAR (A MeaSurement Tool to Assess systematic Review) was used to assess the validity of systematic reviews. Further high-quality, multicentre randomized trials are necessary to establish the indications and efficacy of MMS for rarer cancers, particularly for AFX and PDS, for which only limited studies were identified.

A review of the evidence for Mohs micrographic surgery. Part 2: basal cell carcinoma.

Mohs micrographic surgery (MMS) is considered the gold-standard treatment for basal cell carcinoma (BCC) particularly for sites with a high-risk of incomplete excision such as the central face, for tumours with an aggressive growth pattern and consequent unpredictable subclinical extension and for recurrent tumours. However, the process is more time-consuming than for standard excision (SE), and the magnitude of benefit is uncertain. This article aims to provide a more complete picture of current evidence, including a review of cosmetic outcomes, tissue-sparing ability and cost-effectiveness of MMS. Although robust evidence is lacking, there is a large volume of observational data supporting a low recurrence rate after MMS. The risk of incomplete excision and higher recurrence rate of standard excision favours the use of MMS at high-risk sites. There is some low-certainty evidence that MMS results in a smaller defect size compared with SE, and that incomplete excision with SE results in larger defects. Larger defects may affect cosmetic outcome but there is no direct evidence that MMS improves cosmetic outcome compared with SE. There is conflicting evidence regarding the cost of MMS compared with SE, as some studies consider MMS less expensive than SE and others consider it more expensive, which may reflect the healthcare setting. A multicentre 10-year randomized controlled trial comparing MMS and SE in the treatment of high-risk BCC would be desirable, but is unlikely to be feasible or ethical. Collection of robust registry data capturing both MMS and SE outcomes would provide additional long-term outcomes.

A multicentre qualitative study of patient skin surgery experience during the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK.

Understanding patient concerns regarding skin surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic is a vital way of learning from individual experiences. A shift towards using superficial absorbable sutures (AS) has been anecdotally observed. We explored patient attitudes to the use of AS, and their experiences and perceptions of attending for skin surgery during the pandemic. In total, 35 participants were interviewed (74% men, 100% white British; mean age 72.5 years, range 43-95 years). Participants reported that they were reassured by precautions taken to minimize exposure and risk from COVID-19. The majority (86%) did not feel that personal protective equipment worn by staff impaired their experience, and 29% reported that their experience of attending for skin surgery during the lockdown period was more efficient and organized than on prepandemic visits. The vast majority (94%) of participants would opt to have AS again or had no strong preference for either suture type. Based on their experiences, most participants would have no concerns about attending for further skin surgery during the pandemic and would opt to have AS.