Role of cytological method in modern diagnosis of basal cell skin cancer

Abstract

Basal cell skin cancer most often requires differential diagnosis in patients with neoplastic skin lesions, both pigmented and non-pigmented. The cytological examination is simple to perform and is widely used for the initial examination of patients with skin tumors, both non-pigmented and pigmented. This article discusses in detail the history of the use of cytological examination, technique, diagnostic criteria for basal cell skin cancer. Particular attention is paid to the objective diffculties in the application of the method, the rather high specifcity of cytological examination in the diagnosis of basal cell skin cancer is illustrated.