If you have been diagnosed with non-melanoma skin cancer, learn more about a gentler way to treat skin cancer.
Abstracts & Case Studies
Geometric Favre-Racouchot syndrome following image-guided superficial radiation therapy
Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) are the most common types of nonmelanoma skin cancers (NMSCs) diagnosed in Caucasian patients. The gold standard treatment for NMSC is surgical excision. However, superficial radiation therapy (SRT) can be used as an alternative treatment. SRT uses electromagnetic energy generated from X-rays or photons to cause DNA damage. This leads to cell cycle arrest or apoptosis in rapidly dividing tissues. Compared to other radiation treatment modalities, SRT deposits energy uniformly and precisely and successful treatment requires lower doses. Multiple retrospective studies on NMSCs treated with SRT showed comparable cure rates to surgical excision with minor adverse events localized to the treatment site. Patients and physicians may elect for SRT based on the patient’s comorbid conditions, anatomic location, costs, and those who are surgery averse.
Recently, ultrasound image-guidance has been added to SRT to enhance the delivery of SRT. An ultrasound unit is used to visualize and measure the tumor depth and lateral extent. This information is used to assess the depth of the lesion to ensure that SRT is an appropriate modality of treatment for the malignancy and assists in determining the optimal amount of energy used during treatment…To our knowledge, there have not been any reported cases of FRS from NMSC patients undergoing image-guided superficial radiation therapy (IG-SRT). We report 3 patients treated for NMSC with IG-SRT who developed geometric FRS.
