Use of a Hemostat in Surgery to Control Bleeding in an Excised Basal Cell Carcinoma

 

Basal-cell carcinomas are the most common type of skin cancer. Treatment is typically surgical removal. If the cancer is small, a simple excision may be done to remove the cancer or Mohs surgery may be recommended. Excess bleeding can also result from patients taking common anticoagulants. 

This was a female patient, about 78 years old who had a large basal cell carcinoma that we had excised. She was on Coumadin for atrial fibrillation, she had previous DVT and significant Saphenous vein reflux, three to four seconds as evidenced by the venous Doppler.

So we excised the tissue, excuse me, we excised the lesion, took a good healthy ring tissue and then we applied the Omni-stat for two minutes and 48 seconds to gain acceptable hemostasis. Then following this we did a local random flap. The flap was elevated and sutured into place without tension. Then the multi-layer compression bandage was applied because of this significant deep venous reflux, secondary to the DVT as well as the Saphenous vein reflux.