Dermatology

Melanoma/Skin Cancer   

Questions discussed in this category



Do you favor one treatment over the other?  Do you find one treatment more effective than the other?

Would you treat the primary site alone, include the hand and arm lymphatics to the epitrochlear nodes (one continious treatment volume from hand to el...

The SWOG 1801 trial showed improved event-free survival (EFS) in patients receiving neoadjuvant pembrolizumab followed by 15 cycles of adjuvant pembro...

Very-low-risk stage IIIA disease includes non-ulcerated lesions, primary ≤2 mm thickness, SLN metastasis <1 mm. Per NCCN the toxicity of adjuvan...

Definitive radiation therapy > 5 years ago. Positive margins, PNI of 0.1 mm. What volume would you cover? Dose/fractionation? 

Especially in cases where the MIS portion is obvious but the dermal component may not be.

In patients with no apparent skin involvement but lymph-node showing basal cell carcinoma with extracapsular extension. Would this warrant radiation o...

Majority of patients on the seminal trial (Gross et al., PMID 36094839) had tumors isolated to head & neck, what was the rationale for this?

Do you base your decision on extent of residual disease?  Does the use of (neo)adjuvant immunotherapy have an impact on surgical site size or he...

What dose and margins would you use? The patient is s/p a liver transplant on immunosuppression. 

This is an elderly patient with a BCC/SCC over the shin who is not eligible for Mohs due to concern for wound-healing issues. Orthovoltage/superficial...

Does topical 5FU cause eruptive keratoacanthomas or have any other concerning side effects?

If not, what tumor characteristics prompt you to collect debulking specimens for paraffin or frozen section staining? 

In a patient who would be otherwise fit for surgery +/- adjuvant RT, and the delay is caused by COVID-related OR staffing issues, what would be your a...

Is there any alteration in approach from the medical, surgical, or radiation oncology perspective that can mitigate the risk of forming keloids withou...

What is the role and sequence of surgery and/or RT? Which nodal levels would you include in your RT field(s)?

What approaches (surgical vs non-surgical) offer the best cosmesis for keratoacanthoma (low grade squamous cell carcinoma) ? 

Is there a role for radiation? Does your approach differ depending on site(s) of  disease, and/or if the patient has Basal-Cell Nevus (Gorlin) sy...

In general, how would you approach such a case with regards to creation of your treatment volumes and dose-fractionation? 

Would you recommend radiation therapy or immunotherapy? If proceeding with radiation therapy, what dose-fractionation and technique would you utilize?

When do you electively treat the ipsilateral versus ipsi- and contralateral neck?

This particular case involves a patient with a frontal scalp low grade eccrine carcinoma status-post excision with positive margin complicated by...

Given the location but no other high risk features would you offer RT?  If so, what dose and fields? 

What pathologic features are most important when evaluating the possible need for adjuvant therapy?

*Negative margins, <1cm in size, no LVI, negative SLNB, not immunocompromised, no prior surgery (as well as a negative PET/CT scan).

NCCN lists only substantial perineural invasion.  What about other high-risk adverse features such as histologic subtype, multiple recurrences, d...

When elective nodal radiation is recommended, which nodes would you treat (i.e. facial, pre-auricular, peri-parotid, levels I-III, etc.)?

Patient underwent a shave biopsy of a 6x5x2mm preauricular lesion that showed moderatley differentiated sebaceous carcinoma with deep and lateral marg...

What dose/fractionation would yield the lowest risk of graft failure? Does your treatment management change based of location, ex the ear vs back?

If so, how large of a margin would you place on the primary lesion and would you incorporate any adjacent lymph node levels?

Following Mohs surgery and in the absence of other high risk features, do you offer RT for any PNI?  A single nerve < 0.1 mm? A single ne...

Would re-irradiation be an appropriate option? What dose/field would you incorporate? If treating with standard fractionation, would you take the enti...

Is modern surgical/reconstruction treatment superior to radiation therapy? If contact brachytherapy or superficial (orthovoltage) therapy isnt possib...


Papers discussed in this category


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Ann Surg Oncol, 2003 May

American journal of surgery, 2001-12

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Nature, 2018-01-18

Cureus, 2019 Jun 18

PloS one, 2015

The British journal of dermatology, 2019-02

JAAD Case Rep, 2019 Jun 26

Pract Radiat Oncol, 2019 Dec 09

N Engl J Med, 2022 Sep 12

Front Oncol, 2023 Jan 04

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Lancet Oncol, 2019 Dec

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Head Neck, 2021 Jun 07

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Acta Derm Venereol,

Br J Dermatol, 2019 Sep 18

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The American journal of surgical pathology, 2018-03

The American journal of surgical pathology, 2018-11

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Pathology, 2016 Aug 28

Am J Dermatopathol,

Am J Dermatopathol,

J Am Acad Dermatol, 2022 Jun 23

Dermatol Surg,

Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, 2014-01

Dermatol Ther (Heidelb), 2015 Aug 25

JAAD Case Rep, 2021 Aug 18

Melanoma research, 2017-10

Cancer, 2011-04-15

Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, 2020 Sep 09

European journal of cancer (Oxford, England : 1990), 2017-04

American journal of clinical oncology, 2005-12

Head & neck, 2016-01

The Laryngoscope, 1994-02

Oral and maxillofacial surgery, 2023 Apr 05

J Am Acad Dermatol, 2020 May 07

J Dermatolog Treat, 2022 May 23

Arch Dermatol, 2010 Jul 19

J. Clin. Oncol., 2018 Mar 14

The New England journal of medicine, 2017-11-09

N Engl J Med, 2018 Apr 15

Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, 2020 Oct 30

Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, 2018-02-15

Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, 2022 Dec 01

Cancer, 2023 Mar 04

Journal for immunotherapy of cancer, 2022 Aug

N Engl J Med, 2017 Jun 8

Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, 2019 Dec 10

The oncologist, 2021 May 31

Lancet Oncol, 2022 Oct 18