Trichloroacetic Acid: Best Alternative to Freezing in the Treatment of Actinic Keratoses, Significantly Reducing Risk of Skin Cancer
Actinic keratoses are skin lesions that are sensitive to the effects of ultraviolet light which account for some 3.7 million doctor visits in the United States every year. 331 in 100,000 of such lesion cases per year will progress into the skin cancer squamous cell carcinoma in patients older than age 40.
As many as one-fourth of patients with multiple actinic keratoses will develop squamous cell carcinoma, and up to 60 percent of such cancers are thought to originate from actinic keratoses.
Currently, treatment of actinic keratoses is an expensive treatment modality that generally involves freezing the lesions with liquid nitrogen.
According to a report in the August issue of the Archives of Dermatology (one of the JAMA/Archives journals), facial skin resurfacing with lasers, an acid skin peel or a topical cream may reduce the number of precancerous skin lesions and lower the risk of developing skin cancer.
Researchers at Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System and Stanford University Medical Center, California, headed by Basil M. Hantash, M.D., Ph.D., evaluated three alternative treatments for actinic keratoses in 24 patients with a history of lesions or of carcinoma: skin resurfacing with either a carbon dioxide laser, a chemical peel using 30% trichloroacetic acid or a cream with 5% fluorouracil (a medication used in chemotherapy).
After a three-month period, actinic keratoses were significantly reduced in all three treatment groups: 83 % in the fluorouracil group, 89 % in the acid group and 92% in the laser group. The risk of skin cancer was also significantly reduced with no report of adverse effects.
Treatment with trichloroacetic acid had a 40-fold lower rate of nonmelanoma skin cancer than those in the control group, where subject patients reported fewer complaints, less discomfort and a faster healing time than those in the other two treatment groups; make it an attractive alternative to repeated courses with topical agents or laser resurfacing.
Read the full press release.
Tags: actinic-keratoses, carbon-dioxide-laser, fluorouracil, liquid-nitrogen-freezing, skin-lesions, trichloroacetic-acidRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Skin cancer, ~ Anti-cancer treatments ~
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