Old methods still play a pivotal role in the treatment armamentarium for common skin cancers.

The combination of curettage and cryosurgery is a safe and effective treatment method for basal cell carcinoma, and now, a new study presents the results from testing different variants of the method.

The current study, which appears in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, applied and analyzed two different variants of the curettage and cryosurgery method. A total of 202 tumors were treated in 116 patients, 40 of whom were women. The median age for the group as a whole was 72.

The method involves first scraping the lesion with a curette, followed by cryosurgery using liquid nitrogen. Half the tumors were treated with one session of freezing, and the other half with two sessions of freezing.

This treatment produces a wound that takes a few weeks to heal and leaves a scar, but the method was well tolerated by patients. The results at one-year follow-up were also good: Of 202 tumors, only one recurred.

“Our research clearly shows that, when carried out properly, this method is both safe and cost-effective compared to other commonly used and more resource-intensive methods,” says study author Eva Backman, a doctoral student in dermatology and venereology at the University of Gothenburg’s Sahlgrenska Academy, and a consultant in dermatovenerology at Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Sweden,

Some tumors exhibit an infiltrative growth pattern and are more often hard to delineate. In such cases, surgery, including Mohs surgery, is the most suitable treatment option. Other types are superficial and elevated (nodular), as were the tumors in the study. “Healthcare faces significant challenges, with a growing population that is also living longer. It feels gratifying being able to demonstrate that old treatment methods still plays a pivotal role in the treatment armamentarium for our most common type of cancer,” she says.

PHOTO CAPTION: EVA BACKMAN, SAHLGRENSKA ACADEMY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG.

PHOTOCREDIT: PHOTO BY UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG