Abstract
Skin cancer represents a significant public health problem. In recent years, the incidence of the disease has shown an increasing trend. The most important reason for this trend is the higher exposure to UV radiation, which is known to be the main risk factor. Further reasons are the enhanced life expectancy, and the fact that the number of immunosuppressed patients has increased within the past years. Malignant tumors of the skin are divided into two major categories: melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers. Both occur mainly on sun-exposed areas of the body. Basalioma, squamous cell carcinoma and malignant melanoma represent the most common entities. More rare entities are Merkel cell carcinoma, Kaposi’s sarcoma and cutaneous lymphoma. Surgical excision is the primary treatment of choice for malignant skin tumors. However, not all patients are operable, while surgery is in some cases accompanied with a significant cosmetic or functional deficit. For those cases, radiotherapy constitutes a very effective alternative. Primary radiotherapy is used for the treatment of extensive tumors, in anatomical sites where it is difficult to obtain clear surgical margins, for elderly patients who are not able to undergo surgical treatment and in cases of cutaneous lymphoma. Furthermore, radiation therapy is of particular importance for the adjuvant treatment of the disease, especially for patients with positive surgical margins, regional lymph node metastases and perineural invasion. The role of this therapeutic strategy for palliative treatment should also be emphasized, since radiotherapy is associated with good abatement of symptoms. The aim of this review article is to provide an overview of the use of radiation therapy strategies for the treatment of skin cancer.
Financial & competing interests disclosure
The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.
No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.