Review: the reemergence of brachytherapy as treatment for non-melanoma skin cancer

Electronic brachytherapy (EBT) has seen a significant rise in use over the past few years in treating non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC). However, the current literature in EBT remains scarce. Existing data on high-dose rate brachytherapy (HDR-BT) with surface applicators is often used to justify its efficacy and safety. In this review we study the two treatment modalities on their efficacy in treating NMSC and we explore the reasons behind the recent uprise in EBT. A literature review using PubMed was performed for articles published until January 2017 studying efficacy of HDR-BT and EBT for treating NMSC. HDR-BT demonstrated effective local control ranging from 96.2% to 100% up to 66months of follow-up with acceptable cosmesis. For EBT, local control rates ranged from 90% to 100% with generally favorable tolerance and cosmesis outcome after roughly one year. While longer term data on EBT is needed, its short term efficacy shows promise as a possible alternative to surgery or other radiation therapy in a select group of patients.