skin disorders
Squamous Cell Carcinoma
Treatment of Squamous Cell Carcinoma
Removal of the tumor (many different methods) Doctors treat squamous cell carcinoma by scraping and burning the tumor with an electric needle (curettage and electrodesiccation), by cutting the tumor out (surgical excision), by destroying the cancer using extreme cold (cryosurgery), or by applying Chemotherapy and Other Systemic Cancer Treatments to the skin. Doctors may also use photodynamic therapy (see People whose squamous cell carcinomas have returned or are large should be treated with a technique called Mohs Microscopically Controlled Surgery . Radiation therapy may be done after surgery. Squamous cell carcinoma that has spread (metastasized) to only one or a few other parts of the body is treated with radiation therapy. If the cancer is widespread, radiation therapy may not be used, and chemotherapy is usually not effective. People who cannot have surgery and who have large squamous cell carcinomas that have spread to underlying tissue or elsewhere in the body may be given PD-1 inhibitors (such ascemiplimabandpembrolizumab). PD-1 inhibitors help the body's immune system destroy the cancer. These medications are called PD-1 inhibitors because they block the action of a protein on the surface of the cancer cell called programmed cell death protein 1. This protein protects the cancer cell from the effects of the immune system. When PD-1 inhibitors block the protein, the immune system is able to attack the cancer cell and kill it. Because there is a greater risk of spread with squamous cell carcinoma than with basal cell carcinoma, doctors closely monitor treatment and follow-up. 