{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,23]],"date-time":"2026-04-23T21:42:50Z","timestamp":1776980570451,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":30,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"11","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,11,7]],"date-time":"2022-11-07T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1667779200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"University of Ioannina Research Committee","award":["22195"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["22195"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Current Oncology"],"abstract":"<jats:p>In this retrospective, chart review study, we evaluated the feasibility of immunocryosurgery in facial, non-superficial basal cell carcinomas (BCC) that had relapsed after standard surgery. Inclusion criteria were (a) \u2018biopsy confirmed relapse of facial BCC\u2019, (b) known \u2018calendar year of surgical excision(s)\u2019, and (c) \u2018relapse within 10 years after the last surgical excision\u2019. Tumors treated from 1 January 2011 to 31 December 2020 with a standard 5-week immunocryosurgery cycle (daily imiquimod application for 5 weeks and a cryosurgery session at day 14) were included. Descriptive statistics, Kaplan\u2013Meier method, and Cox proportional hazards model were calculated with significance at p &lt; 0.05. From the n = 27 BCC evaluated, n = 20 (74.1 \u00b1 8.4%) cleared after one immunocryosurgery cycle. Two of the remaining cases cleared completely after a repeat cycle, one patient favored surgery, and four BCC did not clear despite additional immunocryosurgery cycles (feasibility 81.5 \u00b1 7.5%). Of the 22 tumors with clinical outcome \u2018complete clearance with immunocryosurgery\u2019, three BCC relapsed at 9, 28, and 50 months. Overall, the 5\u2013year treatment efficacy rate was 60.2 \u00b1 13.4% (mean follow-up 94.6 \u00b1 15.1 months). In total, 20\/27 BCC relapses after surgery (74.1%) were tumor-free at the end of personalized follow-up times (66.7 \u00b1 12.4% tumor free patients at 5-year follow-up). Number of tumor relapses before immunocryosurgery was the single predictor of tumor progression after immunocryosurgery (p = 0.012). Conclusively, immunocryosurgery could be further evaluated as an alternative, definitive treatment of selected facial BCC relapsing after surgery.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/curroncol29110668","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,11,8]],"date-time":"2022-11-08T10:47:34Z","timestamp":1667904454000},"page":"8475-8482","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":5,"title":["The Feasibility of Immunocryosurgery in the Treatment of Non-Superficial, Facial Basal Cell Carcinoma That Relapsed after Standard Surgical Excision: An Experience Report from Two Centers"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"29","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5482-1304","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Georgios","family":"Gaitanis","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Skin and Venereal Diseases, Faculty of Medicine, School of Health Sciences, University of Ioannina, 45100 Ioannina, Greece"},{"name":"DELC Clinic, 2502 Biel\/Bienne, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Athanasia","family":"Zampeta","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Skin and Venereal Diseases, Faculty of Medicine, School of Health Sciences, University of Ioannina, 45100 Ioannina, Greece"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Panagiota","family":"Tsintzou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Skin and Venereal Diseases, Faculty of Medicine, School of Health Sciences, University of Ioannina, 45100 Ioannina, Greece"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Grigorios","family":"Fillis","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"DELC Clinic, 2502 Biel\/Bienne, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1844-1264","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Konstantinos","family":"Seretis","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, School of Health Sciences, University of Ioannina, 45100 Ioannina, Greece"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Laurence","family":"Feldmeyer","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Dermatology, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern, 3010 Bern, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0252-8314","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ioannis","family":"Bassukas","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Skin and Venereal Diseases, Faculty of Medicine, School of Health Sciences, University of Ioannina, 45100 Ioannina, Greece"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,11,7]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Gaitanis, G., and Bassukas, I.D. 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