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Arch Facial Plast Surg. 2003;5:203.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

I read with interest the article by Bentkover et al¹ entitled "Excision of Head and Neck Basal Cell Carcinoma with a Rapid, Cross-Sectional, Frozen-Section Technique." The authors analyzed the cost-effectiveness of their management of cutaneous pathology specimens in their capitated system. I am concerned that the nature of the capitated arrangement in their health system has led the authors to make a number of unconventional assumptions, which lead to unsubstantiated conclusions.

The authors compare tumor recurrence for basal cell carcinoma between 2 populations that are distinctly different by their own criteria. Specifically, patients with basal cell carcinomas that were recurrent, ill-defined, infiltrative, morpheaform, or greater than 2 cm were referred for Mohs micrographic surgery. Basal cell carcinomas without these well-recognized signs of high-risk behavior were managed with rapid, cross sectional, frozen-section method. A comparison of treatment outcomes between 2 intentionally different groups of patients is inappropriate scientifically. To make conclusions . . . [Full Text of this Article]

RELATED ARTICLE

Excision of Head and Neck Basal Cell Carcinoma With a Rapid, Cross-sectional, Frozen-Section Technique
Stuart H. Bentkover, Donald M. Grande, Henry Soto, Beth A. Kozlicak, Donna Guillaume, and Sheila Girouard
Arch Facial Plast Surg. 2002;4(2):114-119.
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