Skin Flashcards
What are the 2 types of skin cancer?
Melanoma
Non Melanoma Skin Cancer NMSC
What are the two types of NMSC?
Basal Cell carcinomas
Squamous cell carcinomas
Where do melanomas commonly metastasise to?
brain
lung
small bowel
liver
What are some characteristics of melanomas?
very aggressive
unpredictable pattern of spread
blood & lymphatic spread early
Highly Radioresistant
What are the general ways for treating melanomas?
surgery and chemo
immunotherapy
megavoltage for metastases
What are the common melanoma dose fractionations for adjuvant RT after LN dissection?
50Gy/ 20#, 60Gy/ 30#
What are the common melanoma dose fractionations for palliative RT?
8Gy single fraction
20Gy/ 5#
36Gy/6# once weekly
What are the common melanoma dose fractionations for metastasis whole brain RT?
12Gy/ 2 daily fractions given on consecutive days
20Gy/ 5#
For NMSC what is the ratio of BCCs to SCCs?
3:1
What are the treatment options for BCC & SCC?
Surgery (cryosurgery, electrodessication & curettage, Moh’s micrographic surgery, wide local excision, skin grafting, LN dissection)
Topical chemotherapy
Photodynamic therapy
RT
What is Cryosurgery?
Liquid Nitrogen spray
Used for small superficial lesions (tissue dies, scab forms and drops off)
Cost-effective but not suitable near organs such as eyes
What is Electrodessication and Curettage (ED&C)?
Electrodessication burns tumour tumour is then scraped away Electric need to cauterise & kill margin Good cosmetic outcome Used on small lesions, multiple lesions
What is Moh;s Micrographic Surgery?
Microscopic examination of tumour slices so normal tissue is spared
Tracks and removes cancer and its roots
Good for the nose, eyelids, lips, hairline, hands, feet & genitals
What is a Wide Local Excision?
For incomplete excision or inadequate margins
may require a skin graft
local or general anaesthetic
What is Topical Chemotherapy?
5FU (fluorouracil) or Imiquimod creams
home application
steroid creams added if necessary (for swelling)
What is Photodynamic Therapy (PDT)?
hypersensitise cells to light then inject or topical application of drug (5-ALA)
Laser then kills cells
keep covered and dry for 36hours, scab forms and falls off in 3 weeks
What are the advantages of surgery?
can have good cosmetic result,
quick and safe
Good for lesions that recur after RT
Usually SCC needs wider excision due to possible lymphatic spread
Treatment of choice for nodal involvement
What are the disadvantage of surgery?
general anaesthetic for large tumours
skin grafting may be necessary
risk of post-op complications
difficult sites (inner canthus of eye)
What are some indications for using radiation therapy?
-patients who are medically unfit for surgery or anaesthetic
-Cosmesis (face)
preserve function (lower eyelid, lip, nose, inner canthus)
-patients prone to keloid
-recurrence
-positive margins
-perineural or lymphovascular spread invasion
-Large superficial tumours where: surgery would cause major loss of function (e.g. mouth dribbling, numbness) or mutilation would be involve (e.g. ear amputation, nasectomy)
In what circumstances would you not use RT?
young people (scar less noticeable than shape of RT field + telangiectasisa, risk of 2nd malignancy, fibrosis)
previous RT
area prone to trauma
upper eyelid
What is superficial treatment?
superficial (kV photons)
Electron
HDR Brachytherapy
What are superficial kV photons used for?
small tumours
frail patients
lesions <3cm diameter and <5mm thick
What are common fractionations for SXRT (superficial x-ray RT)?
36Gy/ 8# in 17 days (M/W/F)
30-32Gy/ 4# (one or two fractions/ week)
18Gy single fraction
What are the immoblisation restrictions for skin treatments?
any position as long as it’s reproducible and stable
supine, prone, decubitus, semi prone, seated
headrests, pillows, sandbages
Bolus/ rice bags
Head and neck cast for lesion on head
What is a clinical mark up?
must record enough info to reproduce set up
ususally not tattooed (especially if on face)
tracings required
photos
What shielding is used?
thickness depends on energy used (e..g. 4mm for electrons up to 10MeV)
individual cutouts for small lesions
LMPA cut out insert
secondary x-rays absorbed in lead
wax may be aded to provide build up to dose at skin
may need extra protection for eyes/ nasal cavity
When would direct field or fixed angles be used for electron treatment?
used if we want to avoid critical structures of match to another field