Skin Cancer
Treatment for various stages of skin cancer
The recommended Cancer Treatment will depend on different factors like- size, location, type, and stage of Skin Cancer. After considering these factors, cancer patients will be treated with one or a combination of these Skin Cancer treatments.
- Cryotherapy: The growth is frozen by the doctor in liquid nitrogen, and the tissue is destroyed as it thaws.
- Excisional surgery: Cutting out of the cancerous part along with the surrounding healthy skin.
- Mohs surgery: In this method, the cancerous growth is removed layer by layer, and each layer is examined under a microscope until no cancer-causing cell is seen.
- Curettage and electrodesiccation: It is the scraping away of cancer cells by using a long spoon-shaped blade and burning the remaining cancerous part with the help of an electric needle.
- Chemotherapy: To kill cancer cells, drugs are taken orally, applied topically, or injected with a needle or an IV (intravenous) line.
- Photodynamic therapy: A combination of laser light and some drugs are used for the destruction of cancer cells.
- Radiation: For the killing of cancer cells, high- powered energy beams are used.
- Biological therapy: It is stimulating the immune system of a cancer patient to fight against the cancer cells by using biological treatment.
- Immunotherapy: To stimulate the immune system of the cancer patient, a cream is applied over the skin of the cancer patients.
To determine the severity of skin cancer, your doctor will find out the size of the spread of the cancerous part if it has spread to your lymph nodes or other parts of the body.
Skin cancer is mainly divided into two groups for staging purposes: nonmelanoma Skin Cancer and melanoma. Nonmelanoma Skin Cancer includes basal cell cancer and squamous cell cancer.
Stage 0:Â In this condition, the cancer cells have not spread beyond the outermost layer of skin. In the case of superficial basal cell carcinomas, the topical application of some gels, creams, and solutions is useful to treat cancer. Wide local excision is used to remove the tumor. The success rate is maximum in this stage because it is highly curable.
Stage 1:Â In this condition, cancer may have spread to the second layer of skin, dermis, but the spread is not more than two centimeters. It can be treated by wide local excision, minor surgery, Mohs micrographic surgery, cryotherapy, and topical imiquimod.
Stage 2: The tumor is larger than two centimeters but has not spread to the surrounding areas of lymph nodes. It can be removed by minor Surgery with some topical applications. The success rate is 85-95%.
Stage 3:Â Cancer has spread from the primary tumor to the nearby tissues and bone. The size of the tumor in this stage is larger than three centimeters. The survival rate is 65% in this stage. The risk rate of spreading is high.
Stage 4: The tumor is larger than three centimeters and has spread from the primary tumor to lymph nodes, tissue, and bone. Sentinel lymph node Biopsy is recommended by the physician to verify it. Chemotherapy and Radiotherapy are used for treatment. The survival rate is 25%.