Bowen's disease: Analysis of 64 cases in Colombia

Introduction: Bowen's disease is a squamous cell carcinoma in situ. Its prevalence is higher in women, and mainly occurs in sun-exposed skin. It typically presents as well-demarcated scaly plaques. Multiple treatments currently exist, with the most common being surgical excision. Using several cases, this study describes the clinical and demographic characteristics of this disease in Bucaramanga, Colombia, with this being the first data reported on this condition in Latin-America. Methods: A case series study was conducted that included patients from 2005 to 2017 with a clinical and histological diagnosis of Bowen's disease. Cases were extracted from the database of an outpatient department of a high-complexity centre in Bucaramanga, Colombia. Results: A total of 64 cases were analysed. Women were more commonly affected than men (67.2%) with a 2:1 ratio. The most affected area was the lower extremities (34.3%), and the classic lesion was present in 92.2% of the cases, followed by pigmented lesions (6.2%). Surgical excision was performed on 57.9% of the patients, and persistence of the lesions was found in 6.2% of the cases, with all of them being treated initially with imiquimod. Discussion: No significant differences were found in the clinical or demographic distribution or in the treatment performed compared with world literature. Nonetheless, a higher frequency of multiple lesions in atypical locations, and pigmented lesions were observed, with no identified risk factor to account for these results.