Treatment of Epitheliomas of the Skin

Abstract

The potentially high curability of basal-, squamous-, and basosquamous-cell epitheliomas of the skin is generally accepted, but there is a singular lack of unanimity of opinion as to the best means of achieving results. This paper presents the procedure which was worked out and used in the treatment of these tumors at the Ellis Fischel State Cancer Hospital, Columbia, Mo., and a statistical analysis of the results obtained in 492 patients treated there between September 1939 and September 1942. One assumption forms the basis of the rationale of the method; namely, that either radiation or surgery, properly used, can cure any of these lesions. The support for the assumption lies in the large number of articles reporting almost equally good results from the use of each method. The widely varying technics of irradiation used by different workers, all again claiming favorable results, also indicate that there is little or no difference in radiosensitivity between the three types of tumor. The conclusion is th...