A radioactive skin patch just might become a safe and effective way to treat a form of skin cancer called basal cell carcinoma, researchers at the Society of Nuclear Medicine meeting report.
The small study found that the skin patch does not leave scarring, as current therapies can, and appears to non-toxic, reports the lead author the study, Priyanka Gupta, a nuclear medicine technologist at All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi.
"It's exciting to think that this patch can deliver treatment on an outpatient basis with little risk of the scarring or other complications that surgery or radiotherapy present," he said in a statement ahead of the SNM annual meeting.
"This study opens a new dimension not only for treating skin malignancies, but also for nuclear medicine therapy in general."
The patches contain radioactive phosphorus-32 and deliver beta radiation to the cancer site. In the study, eight adult patients who had basal cell carcinoma on the face, but no cancer in underlying facial structures elected to try the patch instead of surgery or radiation.
The patches were custom-made according to the shape and size of each patient's skin cancer lesions. They were applied on the cancer sites for three hours and then reapplied to each site two more times on subsequent days.
Three months after treatment, biopsies of the cancer sites revealed no residual cancer.
The study authors say treatment had few side effects and resulted in minimal scarring. In addition, routine blood and biochemical exams did not reveal any toxicity from the radioactive patches.
Phosporous-32 has a limited range, so radiation from the patches does not reach the bone or underlying blood vessels.
The authors hope the patches could one day be an alternative to surgery and radiation, neither of which provides a complete cure, can leave permanent scarring and can be complicated to deliver.
Basal cell carcinoma is one of the most common forms of skin cancer and it caused mostly by long-term exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation from sunlight. While it is the least likely skin cancer to spread and is not fatal in most cases. It can cause extensive damage to surrounding tissue and bone if the cancer sites are not removed.
