Radiotherapy for Skin Cancer Treatment

Cancers that can be treated with radiation include basal cell carcinoma (BCC), cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC), Melanoma, Merkel Cell Carcinoma (MCC), Lymphoma and a range of rarer tumours such as malignant fibrous histiocytoma (MFH) etc.

BCC and cSCC are sometimes called keratinocytic cancers as they both come from the same cell, the keratinocyte.​

All skin cancers that are not melanoma can be described by the term non-melanoma skin cancers or NMSC, but this term is being phased out.Invasive disease is capable of spreading to other organs. The mode of spread can be by local invasion into other organs. This is the usual mode of spread for BCC. It can be by perineural invasion. It can be by lymphovascular space invasion, spreading to nearby lymph nodes, and then into the rest of the body.

Some cancers have a non-invasive phase, also called an in-situ phase. cSCC has various names for its in-situ stage, which include in-situ cSCC, Bowens Disease and intraepithelial carcinoma, they are really all the same thing. Melanoma also has various names for its in-situ stage which include in-situ melanoma, Hutchinson Melanotic Freckle (HMF) and Lentigo Maligna, again really all the same thing. Adenocarcinoma of skin has as its in-situ phase extramammary Paget’s disease (EMPD). The non-invasive phase is considered dangerous as it can progress to invasive disease.