Skin cancer is the most common type of tumor in humans and one third of cancer diagnoses in the world correspond to this type of cancer. According to the Academy of Dermatology and Venereology in Spain, 74,000 new cases of skin cancer and 4,000 of melanoma are diagnosed each year, increasing the number of cases in Spain by almost 40%.
Mohs surgery consists of microscopic control of the edges of the tumor during the intervention, thoroughly analyzing the edges and bottoms of the tumor and preserving the surrounding healthy skin as much as possible.
The technique is indicated for various skin tumors such as basal cell carcinoma. It is also applied for other tumors that are not related to excessive exposure to ultraviolet radiation such as dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans.
Mohs surgery: 99% cure rate
This is a conventional surgery that removes the tumor en bloc, also removing a relatively wide margin of what the specialist considers healthy skin. But there is a much more precise surgery: Mohs micrographic surgery.
The success of this surgery lies in the fact that the excision is performed sequentially, removing layers of tissue and microscopically controlling the edges and bottom of the tumor. Each layer is analyzed intraoperatively while the pathologist indicates which area is reached by the tumor so that we can continue through the affected layer until the tumor is completely removed.
This technique allows the specialists to make sure that the tumor is completely removed and, in addition, we manage to respect the highest percentage of healthy skin so that the reconstruction is smaller, because many of these tumors are located in the facial region. In Mohs surgery, a margin of one to two millimeters is left as opposed to five millimeters in conventional surgery.