A world perspective of the squamous cell carcinoma of the skin

Abstract

The SCC is the second most frequent cutaneous malignant neoplasia caused primarily by the chronic and excessive exposure to the ultraviolet radiation. The objective of this work is to discuss the global epidemiologic profile of the SCC through a systematic review. A research was made in PUBMED database using the terms squamous cells skin cancer, epidemiology squamous cells skin cancer, penile squamous cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma of the penis, vulva SCC epidemiology and depletion of ozone layer. Another research was made in SCIENCE DIRECT database using the terms epidemiology of non-melanoma skin cancer, epidemiology of squamous cells carcinoma, squamous cells carcinoma, skin cancer and UV radiation. In the end, 19 articles were related. Only the articles dating from up to 2000 were considered. It was verified in this review that several studies of all continents show increasing numbers of cases, becoming a serious problem of the world public health.