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Soo Park, MD
Soo Park, MD
Posted: Thursday, March 17, 2022
Although most minor cases of cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma are curable with surgery, this approach becomes difficult with larger-sized lesions, and even more so in elderly patients. Recently, Huang and Xu, of Boluo County People’s Hospital, Huizhou, China, tested an alternative treatment for some elderly patients: argon-helium cryoablation. The study results, which were published in Frontiers in Oncology, reported that the novel technique may prove to be effective in treating medium- to large-sized lesions.
“Elderly patients are often not suitable for standard surgical treatment, radiotherapy, or systemic therapy,” remarked the study authors. “Argon-helium cryoablation possessed the advantages of minimal invasion, mild adverse reactions, short hospital stay, rapid recovery, good cosmetic outcome, and less damage to the surrounding normal tissues.”
From 2014 to 2016, the study recruited six elderly patients, ranging in age from 72 to 85. Tumor diameters ranged from between 2.5 and 15.5 cm, with an average size of 5.8 cm. All patients were scheduled for mandatory return visits 2 and 4 weeks after operation and were monitored for recurrence for 5 years.
The patients all achieved complete ablation and full clinical recovery with a single treatment session. After treatment, all patients experienced necrosis, scabbing, shedding, and healing, which presented over 4 to 8 weeks. No severe complications were reported, but common side effects included minor pain and slight hemorrhage at the cryoprobe puncture site. One patient with a large facial tumor developed an infection and a fever due to extensive necrosis, but this proved to be controllable. In addition, no medication or cosmetic surgery was required, and none of the patients experienced a recurrence during the 5-year follow-up period.
Disclosure: The study authors reported no conflicts of interest.
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