Clinic for Skin Cancer

What is skin cancer?

In general, skin cancer implies the primary skin cancer which arises from the skin. Primary skin cancer is mostly composed of basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and malignant melanoma.

Premalignant skin lesions that have the potential to develop into the skin cancer are actinic keratosis, Bowen’s disease, erythroplasia of Queyrat, leukoplakia, keratoacanthoma, radiation dermatitis, xeroderma pigmentosum, etc. These skin lesions can alter into the skin cancer so the treatment should be made.

Diagnosis

Inspection and palpation can tell the depth of invasion. If it is large, CT can help defining the infiltrative boundary to the adjacent tissue. Biopsy can make diagnosis except the small basal cell carcinoma. Our department routinely performs the frozen section and permanent biopsy during and after the surgery so that the complete excision of the mass is confirmed.

In case of malignant melanoma, because the spread of cancer is abrupt and prognosis is worse than other skin cancer, early precise diagnosis and treatment according to the depth of the cancer should be made. Our department cooperates with the department of the Dermatology and Pathology and runs the ‘Clinic of skin cancer’ so that the treatment including the diagnosis and surgery can be completed within 1 to 2 weeks.

Treatment

Surgical excision with curative intent is accepted as the general treatment. If the lesion is small, primary closure following the excision is attempted. However, if the lesion is moderate to large coverage with skin graft or flap surgery should follow wide excision. Wider excision with larger safety margin are necessary in case of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) compared with the basal cell carcinoma. Radiotherapy is added from time to time for the treatment of SCC. Althogh chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and radiotherapy are combied to treat the malignant melanoma, poor prognosis is often observed. Therefore, early detection and wide excision are the most important part in the treatment of malignant melanoma.