TREATMENT OF SKIN CANCER SURGERY & THERAPY

1. TREATMENT OF SKIN CANCER SURGERY & THERAPY By grant, Neil and Adam

2. ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF SURGERY Advantage: Can often be very successful in treating some kinds of cancer if the cancer cells are based in one small area and can easily be ‘cut out’ and any surrounding tissue removed. Disadvantage: This cannot be possible if the cancer has spread widely over the body and therefore cannot be ‘cut out’. Advantage: Basal or Squamous skin cancer can often easily be treated only leaving a small scar easy to hide up. Disadvantage: If the treatment is left and delayed the cancer can grow therefore needing more and more surgery later in life causing more scarring. RESEARCHED BY NEIL www.dermwisconsin.com www.familydoctor.org

3. Mohs Surgery • Advantages: • Mohs allows for examination of all the boundaries of the removed cancer and thus has the highest cure rate. • Mohs allows for maximal tissue preservation, meaning that no skin is removed than necessary. • Mohs is typically performed under local anaesthetics. • Disadvantages: • Mohs is a lengthy procedure often requiring long periods of time to complete. • Often times the plastic surgery reconstruction of the Mohs defect needs to be performed on a different day (for scheduling reasons) RESEARCHED BY NEIL www.dermwisconsin.com www.familydoctor.org

4. THE PHYSICS OF RADIOTHERAPY Radio Therapy, also know as Radiation Therapy is a method of treating cancer. It is often used merely as a palliative treatment or right after surgery to prevent the re-growth. It works by using radiation to damage the DNA structure of malignant cells which in turn, will prevent their growth. Most of the damage done to the DNA is by free radical’s mainly produced from Oxygen. However larger tumors can often outgrow their blood supply and end up in a low oxygen state known as “Hypoxia”. This can increase a tumors resilience to By up to 2 to 3 times normal amounts. RESEARCHED BY ADAM WWW.WIKIPEDIA.ORG

5. THE PHYSICS OF RADIOTHERAPY The initial discoveries in Radio Therapy were right on the back of Marie Curies famous discovery of the radioactive elements Polonium and Radium. For years, Radium was used in various forms until the mid 1900’s when Cobalt and Cesium came into use. However from the 1940’s onwards, Medical Linear Accelerators were used almost exclusively as a source of Radiation. RESEARCHED BY ADAM WWW.WIKIPEDIA.ORG

6. PHOTODYNAMIC THERAPY • Photodynamic Therapy is a type of skin cancer treatment that has been in development since the 1960’s. • Photo reactive chemicals are injected into the patient and radiated with a light between the wave length of blue and deep red to activate the chemicals. • The activated chemicals emit free radicals which destroy cancerous cells. RESEARCHED BY GRANT www.patient.co.uk

7. PHOTODYNAMIC THERAPY • Energy is transferred in the form of light via the intracellular photosensitive to oxygen molecules. The oxygen then forms highly reactive intermediaries. These have a short half life (fractions of a second) and thus have a very localized tissue damaging effect. The energy involved is low (so that hyperthermia is unlikely) and damage to adjacent organs is therefore unlikely. • ADVANTAGES: • Lack of scarring. This is unlikely as collagen and elastin are unaffected leaving organs intact. • Highly selective tissue necrosis • Resistance to treatment does not develop with repeated treatment • DISADVANTAGES • It requires direction of the light to the appropriate site and tissue depth to be effective. • It is complex requiring optimal light delivery with laser and collaboration and coordination between clinicians. • Persistent skin photosensitivity lasting weeks with some photosensitizes limits use. RESEARCHED BY GRANT WWW.PATIENT.CO.UK