[Intraepithelial carcinoma and invasive carcinoma of the sclero-corneal limbus. Anatomo-clinical study apropos of 20 cases].

We report a retrospective multicentric study of 20 cases of sclero-corneal limbus tumours carcinome including 9 cases of Bowen's disease and 11 squamous cell carcinomas. These cases were observed over two 10 and 20-year periods in two pathology departments. Epidemiological, clinical, pathological and therapeutic data as well as the clinical course were studied and the results compared with a large review of the literature. The mean age of the patients was 38 years for Bowen's disease and 47 for carcinoma. Two young subjects, 5 and 22 years, had xeroderma pigmentosum and had Bowen's disease and an epidermoid microinvasive carcinoma, respectively. All of the patients with Bowen's disease were men and were more than 90% of the patients with carcinoma. Tumour size was greater in carcinomas (7 to 10 mm) than in Bowen's disease (1 to 5 mm). All tumours were unilateral. Clinical manifestations included irritative or inflammatory reactions in one-fourth of the patients with Bowen's disease and in one-third of those with carcinoma. Pathology examination revealed an intact basal membrane separating healthy tissue from Bowen's lesions which showed disrupted cell architecture mostly involving the medial layers of the epithelium in 37% of the cases. All of the lesions were treated by exeresis. No recurrence has been observed after a follow-up of 1 month to 2 years for Bowen's disease and 1 year (maximum) for squamous cell carcinomas.