Background
The aim of this work is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of imiquimod 5% cream used in the treatment of certain non-melanoma skin cancers.
Materials and methods
We treated 30 subjects: 5 actinic keratosis, 3 cheratoacanthomas, 5 cutaneous horns, 5 superficial basal cell carcinomas, 12 nodular basal cell carcinomas according to the therapeutic pattern - five applications a week for 6-12 weeks -. The patients with nodular forms could not be treated with surgery for severe chronic deseases, age, or refusal.
Results
Imiquimod 5% cream was effective and well tolerated both in actinic keratosis and in superficial and nodular basal cell carcinoma.
Conclusions
The treatment of certain non-melanoma coutaneous toumors with imiquimod 5% cream, has been effective, without collateral effects; erythema, edema, vesicles, crusts and erosions with itching or burning in the application area, have been the most frequent adverse events which however did not cause the suspension of therapy.
A diligent and continuative follow-up is necessary.
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Open Access This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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Dastoli, M.N. Cutaneus cancers in elderly Medical treatment of actinic keratosis and superficial coutaneus cancers: imiquimod. BMC Geriatr 10 (Suppl 1), A92 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2318-10-S1-A92
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2318-10-S1-A92