Researchers from Germany have reported that Aldara® can eradicate 64% of low-risk nodular basal cell carcinomas. The details of this study were reported in the November 2007, issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.1
Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) is the most common form of skin cancer affecting 800,000 Americans each year. This also makes BCC the most common cancer occurring in humans. It has been estimated that one out of every three new cancers is a skin cancer with the vast majority being basal cell carcinomas. The number of new cases has increased each year in the last few decades, but the average age of onset of the disease has steadily decreased. More men than women get basal cell carcinoma, but there has been an absolute increase in incidence in women.
Chronic exposure to sunlight is the cause of almost all basal cell carcinomas, which occur most frequently on exposed parts of the body. Treatments for BCC include surgical excision, curettage, cryosurgery, laser treatment, surgical excision with predetermined margins of clinically normal tissue, surgical excision under frozen section control, Moh’s micrographic surgery, radiotherapy, immunomodulators, and chemotherapy.
Previous studies have shown that Aldara was highly effective in treating actinic keratosis, a sun induced pre-cancerous condition of the skin. A 5-week treatment with Aldara has also been found to eradicate over 80% of superficial basal cell carcinomas.2
The current study randomly allocated 102 patients with nodular basal cell carcinoma to receive 8 or 12 weeks of treatment with Aldara three times per week. Twelve patients dropped out of the study and 90 were evaluable for response. The clinical complete response rate was 78% with visible tumor remaining in 22%. A complete pathological remission was achieved in 64% with tumor present in 12 patients who were in clinical complete remission. Side effects were predominantly moderate inflammation.
Comments: these data would suggest that Aldara can eradicate basal cell carcinoma but this cannot be determined without a biopsy to determine if there is residual tumor.
Related News:
Imiquimod Cream Reverses Sun Induced Pre-cancerous Skin Lesions (11/26/2002)
Aldara™ Cream (Imiquimod) Effective for Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma in Situ (05/31/2006)
Optimal Therapy for Basal Cell Carcinoma Not Defined Due to Lack of Controlled Clinical Trials (10/4/2004)
Surgery Superior to Photodynamic Therapy for Nodular Basal Cell Carcinoma (9/24/2007)
Long-Term Control of Basal Cell Carcinomas by Perilesional Injection of Interferon (5/30/2006)
Imiquimod Cream Reverses Sun Induced Pre-cancerous Skin Lesions (11/26/2002)
Moh’s Micrographic Surgery May be Superior to Surgical Excision for Large Aggressive Basal Cell Carcinomas (11/29/2004)
Reference:
1 Eigentler TK, Kamin A, Weide BM, et al. A phase III, randomized, open label study to evaluate the safety and efficacy of imiquimod 5% cream applied thrice weekly for 8 and 12 weeks in the treatment of low-risk nodular basal cell carcinoma. Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology 2007;57:616-621.
2 Geisse J, Caro I, Lindhollm J, Golitz L, et al. Imiquimod 5% cream for the treatment of superficial basal cell carcinoma: results of two phase III, randomized, vehicle-controlled studies. Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology. 2004;50:722-733.
© 1998-2007 OncoEd.com All Rights Reserved.
These materials may discuss uses and dosages for therapeutic products that have not been approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration. All readers should verify all information and data before administering any drug, therapy or treatment discussed herein. Neither the editors nor the publisher accepts any responsibility for the accuracy of the information or consequences from the use or misuse of the information contained herein.
Patient Home
