Copyright
©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Dermatol. May 2, 2016; 5(2): 115-124
Published online May 2, 2016. doi: 10.5314/wjd.v5.i2.115
Published online May 2, 2016. doi: 10.5314/wjd.v5.i2.115
Actinic keratosis and field cancerization
Selma Emre, Dermatology Clinic, Ataturk Training and Research Hospital, Medical School, Yildirım Beyazit University, Bilkent 06800, Ankara, Turkey
Author contributions: Emre S designed of the paper, performed data acquisiation and writing of the paper.
Conflict-of-interest statement: There is no conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Selma Emre, MD, Associated Professor, Dermatology Clinic, Ataturk Training and Research Hospital, Medical School, Yildirım Beyazit University, Çankiri Caddesi Çiçek Sokak No: 3, Bilkent 06800, Ankara, Turkey. dr_semre@yahoo.com
Telephone: +90-312-2912525-3660 Fax: +90-312-2912705
Received: September 27, 2015
Peer-review started: October 3, 2015
First decision: December 28, 2015
Revised: February 25, 2016
Accepted: March 14, 2016
Article in press: March 16, 2016
Published online: May 2, 2016
Processing time: 211 Days and 8.4 Hours
Peer-review started: October 3, 2015
First decision: December 28, 2015
Revised: February 25, 2016
Accepted: March 14, 2016
Article in press: March 16, 2016
Published online: May 2, 2016
Processing time: 211 Days and 8.4 Hours
Core Tip
Core tip: While actinic keratoses (AKs) have been considered precancerous until recently for being able to turn into squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs), it is now agreed that it would be more appropriate to call them cancerous. The presence of two or more AKs on a photodamaged skin is an indicator of field cancerization and represents an increased risk of invasive SCC. All lesions should be treated since it cannot be foreseen which of the lesions will regress and which will progress to SCC. In this review, epidemiology, ethiopathogenesis, diagnostic approach and treatment options for AK and field cancerization have been evaluated in light of recent literature.