Cáncer de piel en Colombia: cifras del Instituto Nacional de Cancerología

Incidence of skin cancer has increased in recent decades worldwide. Population data are limited in Colombia; nevertheless, institutional cancer registries provide information on frequency and distribution of reference institutions.This article summarizes information of new diagnoses of skin cancer corresponding to the period 1996-2010 at the Instituto Nacional de Cancerologia, reference center for cancer in our country, where a progressive increase is evident in frequency of new cases, in addition to an increased frequency in patients older than 75 years.Basal cell carcinoma (52.7%), squamous cell (22.6%) and melanoma (16.1%) predominate among histologic subtypes. Colombia's estimated incidence for malignant melanoma corresponds to 4.6/100,000 in women and 4.4/100,000 in men.The importance of skin cancer as a public health priority is evident in their relative frequency relative to other cancers and their appearance in all stages of life.