Soft x-ray therapy for cutaneous basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas

• Published in: Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology Vol. 53; no. 6; pp. 993 - 1001
• Main Authors: Schulte, Klaus-Werner, Lippold, Andrea, Auras, Christine, Bramkamp, Gernot, Breitkopf, Claudia, Elsmann, Heinz-Joachim, Habenicht, Eva Maria, Jasnoch, Volker, Müller-Pannes, Helga, Rupprecht, Rainer, Suter, Ludwig
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY Mosby, Inc 01-12-2005; Elsevier
• Subjects: Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Biological and medical sciences; Carcinoma, Basal Cell - radiotherapy; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell - radiotherapy; Dermatology; Follow-Up Studies; Humans; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local - epidemiology; Radiotherapy Dosage; Retrospective Studies; Skin Neoplasms - radiotherapy; Tumors of the skin and soft tissue. Premalignant lesions; Skin disease; Squamous cell carcinoma; Treatment; Dermatology; Soft X ray; Skin; Malignant tumor; Radiotherapy
• ISSN: 0190-9622; 1097-6787
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jaad.2005.07.045

We have used a schedule for soft x-ray therapy of epithelial malignancies that takes into account the clinically diagnosed tumor involution under treatment.
We sought to evaluate the effectiveness of this schedule in terms of cure rate and late ulcerations.
Patients with 1267 consecutively irradiated (1988-1992) basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas were followed up (average 77 months).
The recurrence rate (5.1%) was related to tumor size and thickness and to the time-dose-fractionation factor. The frequency of ulcerations (6.3%) depended on field size, hardness of the x-rays, and in smaller fields (diameter up to 4 cm) on total dose, and time-dose-fractionation factor. Of all ulcerations, 82.5 % could be conservatively cured.
We have no evidence that our radiation schedule is superior to those published by other authors.
These results verify the usefulness of soft x-ray therapy for cutaneous epithelial malignancies.