Relation of the eighth edition of the American Joint Committee on Cancer staging system with histological risk classification for primary eyelid basal cell carcinoma.

To investigate the relation between the eighth edition of the American Joint Committee on Cancer staging system and histological risk classification for primary eyelid basal cell carcinoma. Retrospective, observational case series of patients undergoing excisional biopsy for primary eyelid basal cell carcinoma in two tertiary centres between 2008 and 2018. Patients with <6 months of follow-up were excluded. Outcomes measured included histological subtype, American Joint Committee on Cancer 7 and 8 staging. A total of 222 cases were included over a 10-year period, with a mean (range) follow-up of 25.74 (6-120) months and a median (range) age of 70 (28-93) years. According to American Joint Committee on Cancer 8, the most common T category was T1a (64%), followed by T1b (18%) and T2a (8%). Of the 222 specimens, 183 (82.43%), 17 (7.66%), 19 (8.56%) and 3 (1.35%) were staged as IA, IB, IIA and IIB, respectively. The most common histological subtype was nodular in IA category and infiltrative in categories IB and IIA. Histologically, low-risk basal cell carcinomas were related to lower American Joint Committee on Cancer staging (IA), whereas high-risk basal cell carcinomas were related to American Joint Committee on Cancer stages IB and IIA (p < 0.001). No significant relation was found between T categorisation and risk stratification when adopting American Joint Committee on Cancer 7. American Joint Committee on Cancer 8 staging system is strongly related to primary eyelid basal cell carcinoma histological risk classification.