Background: Kangri cancer is a heat-induced skin carcinoma associated with the use of the Kangri. This Kangri, which is a traditional fire pot, is an ingenious mode of providing warmth. The Kangri is an earthenware container with an outer encasement of wickerwork that is filled with ignited coal inside for providing a source of heat in winter months. Its prolonged use may result in formation of erythema ab igne, a reticulate hypermelanosis with erythema, which may transform into cutaneous cancer. Currently, this skin cancer rarely is found in the Kashmir valley.
Methods: Between 2003 and 2008, all those having Kangri cancer were studied.
Results: A 5-year study was conducted during which 17 patients who were documented with a Kangri cancer were treated. Sixteen patients had cancer on a thigh and 1 had cancer on the abdominal wall. All had an excision of the neoplasm. Histopathology documented squamous cell carcinoma in all patients.
Conclusion: Kangri cancer still occurs in patients who live in remote areas of Kashmir where there is a chilling cold in winter months and have no modern and alternative cheap means of warming other than the Kangri.
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