Each year throughout the world, between 2 and 3 million nonmelanoma skin cancers develop, according to the World Health Organization. In the United States alone, it is estimated that 1 in 5 will develop the disease at some point in their lives.
Recently, researchers at the Society of Nuclear Medicine 2012 Annual Meeting announced that a customized patch treatment for basal cell carcinoma has been developed that entirely destroyed facial tumors without surgery or major radiation therapy in 80% of patients studied.
This novel treatment, a phosphorus-32 (P-32) skin patch, is a radiation spot treatment that can conveniently and safely eradicate skin tumors with a few outpatient appointments. For patients with skin cancers that are very difficult to operate on, this therapy is ideal.
“The study is important for the field of nuclear medicine as it opens a new dimension in the field of therapeutic nuclear medicine and dermatology, especially for the treatment of skin malignancies,” says Priyanka Gupta, PhD, lead author of the study at All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India. “For patients, it is beneficial because it is a simple, inexpensive and convenient procedure that does not require them to be admitted to the hospital. This may become the standard procedure for treating basal cell carcinoma or serve as an alternative when surgery and radiotherapy are not possible.”
For the study, Gupta and colleagues evaluated 10 patients between the ages of 32 and 74 years with facial basal cell carcinoma lesions near the eyes, nose, and forehead. All were treated locally with the P-32 patch for 3 hours on an outpatient basis. After the first treatment, the custom patches were reapplied on day 4 and day 7 for another 3 hours each. This schedule delivered a fragmented dose of 100 Gy to the cancerous lesions only, with no harm to deeper structures or other areas of healthy skin on the face. In biopsies taken at 3 months and again within 3 years post-treatment, 8 of 10 patients were found to be entirely cured and cancer free.
Source: SNM.