Significant Roles of Radiotherapy in the Management of Skin Carcinoma

Abstract

Radiotherapy plays an important role in the management of appropriately selected skin carcinomas. We reported four patients with cutaneous squamous cell carcinomas treated with four different types of radio therapy: preoperative, intraoperative, postoperative, and irradiation without operation. The purposes of pre and intraoperative radiotherapy are to enable operations in patients with inoperable carcinomas by reducing tumor size, and to suppress the spread of carcinoma cells during the operation. Irradiation subsequent to surgery (postopeative radiotherapy) is chosen as an adjuvant therapy in order to eliminate possible residual tumor cells. The indications for irradiation alone (without operation) are limited to patients who are not healthy enough to undergo surgery, but, even in such patients, irradiation is often very effective, and an absolute cure can even be expected if their squamous cell carcinomas are sensitive enough to irradiation. There are a number of available options for the primary management of skin carcinomas. The appropriate roles of dermatologists treating skin carcinomas are to be well versed in radiotherapy and to choose the most effective and QOL-preserving treatment among various therapeutic options.