Basal Cell Carcinoma is the most common cancer in humans and is globally most prevalent in Australia, where 2 in every 3 people will develop one in their lifetime. Non-melanoma skin cancers are so prevalent they fail to gain recognition on cancer registries as it is near impossible to count them. Academic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery units however do count their numbers and keep record of close or involved margin rates as key performance indicators. Historically, surgeons have strived to keep involved margin rates below 5%, based on a landmark paper by Zitelli et al in 1981. This paper and the literature since then has failed to examine the true involved rate across general populations of patients treated by Plastic Surgeons, but also failed to provide a specific baseline for the different regions of the body.

This project will utilise the ACTPRAS network to expand on the monthly skin cancer audits in PRS units across Australasia, recruiting more specific whilst deidentified data to examine the factors contributing to incomplete excisions.