Skin Cancer Treatments

In order to select the best treatment option for the individual case of disease, it must be determined before the therapy, which type of cancer is exactly and how far cancer has spread in the skin or possibly in the entire body. The earlier the skin cancer is detected and treated, the better the skin cancer chances of recovery. Read all important information about Skin Cancer Treatments here.

                      Skin Cancer Treatments

Article overview

White Skin Cancer: Therapy

Malignant Melanoma (Black skin Cancer): Treatment

Skin Cancer: Healing Chances

                      Skin Cancer Treatments

White Skin Cancer: Therapy

For the treatment of the two forms of white skin cancer, basalioma, and spine glioma, various procedures are available. The method of treatment with the lowest relapse rate is surgery. Other forms of skin cancer treatment are usually only used as a sole therapy when surgery is not possible.

Surgery

During surgery, the surgeon removes the affected tissue as completely as possible. Due to the required safety distance, the incision runs through the healthy skin around the tumor. To make sure that all cancer cells have been removed, the removed piece of skin is then examined with particular attention to histological examination in its marginal areas. To ensure that the skin cancer treatment has been successful and the skin cancer has been completely removed, a larger area of skin must be removed in a second surgical procedure (history graphic or micrographic skin cancer treatment), as the case may be. The method has the advantage that in skin cancer in the initial stage not unnecessarily much tissue is removed. For superficial tumors, curettage can also be used for skin cancer treatment. The doctor scrapes the diseased tissue. If the tumors are very deep, this can lead to cosmetic problems, so that then a skin transplantation (skin transplantation) from another body region in the final skin cancer treatment is necessary.

Radiation, Photodynamic Therapy (PDT) and Immunomodulatory Therapy

Radiation therapy (radiotherapy) is particularly useful in the treatment of skin cancer, especially in elderly patients and when the tumor is located in a difficult-to-reach area (for example near the eyes or around the lips). X-rays with very high energy are used, which damage the genome of the skin cells. The radiation is directed as precisely as possible to the tumor. While normal cells can repair this damage, the cancer cells die off. The skin cancer treatment by radiation is a specially trained physician (radio oncologist or radiation therapist) in charge.

For a superficial basal cell carcinoma (basal cell carcinoma) also a photodynamic therapy (PDT) for skin cancer treatment is considered. Here, the patient receives a drug that makes the cancer cells particularly sensitive to light. Subsequently, the tumor and the surrounding tissue are irradiated (illuminated) with light (not X-rays!). This specifically destroys tumor cells. Sunbathing must be avoided during photodynamic therapy. A reimbursement by the statutory health insurance is currently not always guaranteed for this form of skin cancer treatment.

Since 2004, there is a new method of skin cancer treatment for superficial basal cell carcinoma (basalioma) with the so-called immunomodulating therapy. The patient wears the substance imiquimod as a cream for several weeks even on the affected areas. The active ingredient activates the immune system of the skin, which then attacks the tumor cells in a targeted manner. Visible and with the naked eye not yet recognizable tumor areas are eliminated painlessly. Scars are not left behind by this skin cancer treatment. Since long-term results are still outstanding, it can not be ruled out that higher relapse rates occur than with surgical therapy. Alternatively, local chemotherapy (5-fluorouracil) may be applied as a cream or ointment for skin cancer treatment.

Systemic (Whole-Body) Chemotherapy

If the white skin cancer is already more advanced or has already formed daughter metastases (metastases), is used throughout the body acting (systemic) chemotherapy for skin cancer treatment. The drugs (cytostatics) prevent the cells from dividing further. Both tumor cells and healthy cells are affected, which can cause some side effects. White skin cancer initially responds well to chemotherapy, but the relapse rates (recurrence rates) after skin cancer treatment are high. Chemotherapy can be performed both in the hospital and on an outpatient basis.

Malignant Melanoma (Black Skin Cancer): Treatment

The skin cancer treatment of malignant melanoma (black skin cancer) depends on the stage of the disease. A total of five stages (with respective subgroups) are distinguished. The scale goes from 0 (= superficial tumor without metastases) to IV (= tumor, which has already formed metastases in other organs).

 Surgery

Surgery is the most important treatment for all stages of black skin cancer in skin cancer treatment. The malignant melanoma is therefore always surgically removed - for safety, the doctors also remove some surrounding tissue. How much extra tissue is removed depends on the extent of the tumor. If the black skin cancer is more advanced, the surgeons decide during the operation, if the adjacent lymph nodes must be removed. If an ultrasound scan before surgery has revealed a lymph node involvement, it will definitely be removed as part of the skin cancer treatment.

 Immunomodulatory Drugs

From a certain stage of black skin cancer, doctors recommend an additional dose of medications that affect the immune system (interferon alpha). This medicine must be injected and stimulates the body's defense. In particular, patients with melanoma stage II and III benefit from this skin cancer treatment. This adjuvant therapy is used after all visible tumors have been surgically removed. The goal is to eliminate any micrometastases. This should increase the chance of survival.

Chemo- and Radiotherapy

If the black skin cancer has already formed distant metastases (for example, in more distant lymph nodes, in the liver, lungs, brain or bones), the doctors will check whether they can be surgically removed. If this is not possible, radiation therapy (radiotherapy) or systemic chemotherapy may be used for skin cancer treatment. Radiotherapy is useful for melanoma of the eyes, lentigo malignant melanoma, elderly patients, and individual brain metastases or painful metastases (for example, bone metastases) for skin cancer treatment.

Hyperthermia

In some cases, the skin cancer treatment in addition to radiotherapy or chemotherapy is also done by overheating (hyperthermia). Physicians use several effects in this regard: On the one hand, chemotherapy and radiotherapy due to hyperthermia may work better, on the other hand, the immune system is stimulated. In addition, cancer cells are more sensitive to heat than healthy cells. Hyperthermia is used in Germany for skin cancer treatment so far only in special cases.

New approaches in the Treatment of Malignant Melanoma

At the beginning of 2012, a novel therapy with the active ingredient vemurafenib for the treatment of advanced black skin cancer was approved in Germany. The remedy is suitable for adults in whose melanoma a certain gene is altered (BRAF-V600 mutation) and that is no longer operable or has metastasized. In contrast to previous standard methods that cannot differentiate between tumor cells and healthy cells (for example, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy), vemurafenib targets the melanoma cells. The active substance thus belongs to the group of targeted cancer therapies ("targeted therapies"). These new substances are effective against selected target sites (targets) of the tumor. This preserves the healthy cells. So the body should be largely spared from adverse side effects of skin cancer treatment.

Skin Cancer: Healing Chances

In skin cancer, the chance of a cure depends very much on the time of diagnosis. Skin cancer is usually completely curable in the early stages. Spiny cell cancer (Spina glioma), and especially black skin cancer (malignant melanoma) can form daughter deposits (metastases) of cancer cells in other organs via the blood and lymph channels. Once metastasis has occurred, skin cancer chances of recovery decline rapidly. In order to make a realistic prognosis for the individual case of disease, it is necessary to determine by means of various examinations the extent of the spread of the tumor in the skin or in the whole body. For specific information on skin cancer cure and prognosis in skin cancer treatment, see the text for the respective skin cancers.

Also Read: Types of Skin