Treatment Methods

Treatment Methods

How may Skin Cancer Be Treated?

There are several methods of treating skin cancer, all highly successful in the majority of patients.

Besides Mohs micrographic surgery, these methods include excision (surgical removal) and immediate closure (suturing or sewing), curettage and electrodesiccation (scraping with a curette and burning with an electric needle), radiotherapy (x-ray), cryosurgery (freezing), topical chemotherapy (chemical destruction) and injectable chemotherapy. Which method we use depends on several factors, such as the location of the cancer, its size, and previous therapies.

Many patients ask about laser treatment of skin cancers. Laser treatment is simply another method to burn off skin cancer similar to electrodesiccation mentioned above.

Except for Mohs micrographic surgery, all other methods of skin cancer treatment require guessing how wide and deep to treat. In Mohs micrographic surgery, removed tissue is examined under the microscope and the tumor is mapped so that guessing the extent of the tumor is eliminated.

The following chart lists the points for and against the different skin cancer treatment methods.

TREATMENT METHODS	POINTS FOR	POINTS AGAINST
Mohs micrographic surgery	Highest cure rate; normal tissue spared.	Time consuming; expensive
Excision with closure	Fast	May not remove all cancer, especially if treated before unsuccessfully
Excision and closure with frozen sections in operating room	Examines some tissue at surgery	Does not examine all tissue removed; expensive
Curettage and electrodesiccation	Fast; inexpensive	Likely to leave tumor if on face or if treated before
Radiotherapy (x-rays)	Nonsurgical	May cause additional cancer; may scar; requires 15-20 treatment sessions; expensive
Cryosurgery	Fast; inexpensive	May not treat all tumor; may scar
Laser	"Hi-tech"	Expensive; superficial and unlikely to cure deeper roots
Topical chemotherapy (5-Fluorouracil)	Good cosmetic result; inexpensive	Unlikely to cure cancer if large (> 1 inch) or if on face
Injectable chemotherapy (5-Fluorouracil or interferon)	Nonsurgical	Uncertain of long lasting cure at this time; requires 9 separate injections on separate days; expensive; patient gets flu symptoms