Elderly skin cancer patients may skip surgery: study tests 'Watch and Wait'
NCT ID NCT06539468
First seen Jun 27, 2026 · Last updated Jun 27, 2026
Summary
This study looks at whether active surveillance (watching the cancer without treating it right away) is a safe and comfortable choice for people aged 65 and older who have a low-risk type of skin cancer called basal cell carcinoma. The cancer is slow-growing and unlikely to spread. Standard treatments like scraping, burning, or surgery can cause side effects like bleeding or infection. The study will compare how satisfied patients are with active surveillance versus standard care.
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Study facts
What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.
- Phase
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Not a phased trial
Phase numbers describe drug development. The registry uses this when they do not apply, as it does for trials of devices, procedures or behaviour changes, and for observational studies.
- Participants
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81 people
The number who actually took part.
- Started
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Oct 2024
- Expected to finish
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Apr 2027
An estimate. End dates often move.
- Lead sponsor
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Other sponsor
The registry's catch-all category, for sponsors it does not file as a company, a government agency, or a research network.
Who can take part
This study's own entry requirements. Only the study team can say for certain whether you qualify.
- Ages
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65 years and older
- Sex
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Anyone
- Healthy volunteers
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Not accepted
This study is not open to healthy volunteers. The entry requirements below say who it is open to.
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Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.
Inclusion Criteria: * Subject of any gender aged ≥ 65 years at the time of enrollment * Patient at University of Michigan Department of Dermatology (UMichDD) * Willing and able to provide informed consent * Willing and able to comply with the protocol requirements * Histopathologic diagnosis of one or more LR-BCC(s) within 2 months of enrollment. LR-BCC is defined here as biopsy proven primary (not recurrent) BCC of any morphologic subtype; \< 2cm in size; with or without marginal involvement on histopathology; and located on the trunk or extremities excluding pretibial surface, hands, feet, nail units, and ankles (corresponding to area L in the Mohs Appropriate Use Criteria, representing the lowest risk areas) Exclusion Criteria: * Individuals who are immunocompromised per judgement of investigator (examples include but are not limited to patients on immunosuppressive medications such as prednisone \> 10 mg daily, uncontrolled HIV, and organ transplant recipients on immunosuppressive therapy) * Individuals who expect to relocate and will be unable to return to UMichDD for clinical follow-up visit(s) * Individuals with a genetic syndrome predisposing to development of basal cell carcinoma
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Genom att skicka in godkänner du våra Användarvillkor
Conditions
The condition(s) this trial relates to.
As listed by the trial registrant
The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.
Contacts and locations
Locations
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University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center
Ann Arbor, Michigan, 48109, United States
More trials for these conditions
Other studies related to the condition(s) this trial covers.