Pretty quick, basic question

[dwil75]

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Bear with me on this one; I've been on leave from residency quite a while. What margins do I need to report on actinic keratosis? I know that different attendings report this differently. Thanks.

 

[caffeinegirl]

No margins.

 

[DrBloodmoney]

No margins.

Yup. I don't report margins on biopsies and I don't think that I've ever had an excision for an AK. SCC-in-situ is a different story...

 

[icpshootyz]

No margins.

Now if only my program could agree 😉 But yes, no margins. Biopsies are done for diagnosis with the presumption that curative treatment will follow. Unless of course it says "excisional biopsy", which is a confusing term in itself.

 

[zao275]

Of course, Ackerman seemed to think that all AK's were actually squamous cell carcinomas and that the line between AK and Bowen's was totally arbitrary and thus should be ignored...not that I follow that line of thinking but it always entertains me to hear of the various Ackerman ideas that were out there in left field. Dr. Rapini likes to say that Ackerman was probably right about 95% of the time (which makes me think that he was very wrong the other 5%). ;-)

PS - I don't report margins on AK's.