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The role of radiotherapy in the treatment of skin cancer
HOLEČKOVÁ, Ivana
Tumour diseases constitute one of the main causes of death in advanced countries. If diagnosed in time, the disease can be cured in approximately 45 % cases. Common curative methods of treating skin tumours include surgical, radiotherapeutic, chemotherapeutic or biological treatment or their combination. The subject of my thesis is the role of radiotherapy in treatment of skin tumours. I have compared the results of radiotherapeutic treatment in the period from 1981 to 1985 and from 2001 to 2005 in the oncology ward of Nemocnice České Budějovice, and also examined the count of radiated patients in comparison with the number of all reported skin tumours. On the basis of these statistical data we obtain a certain idea of the rate of use of both the above stated methods in treatment of carcinoma. The first part of my thesis is theoretical and provides a historical survey of tumour diseases, based on study of technical literature. Following the survey, I address radiotherapy in general and attend to skin anatomy; a special chapter is focused on skin cancer and its symptoms. The theoretical part describes curative methods of skin tumours. With regard to the topic of the thesis I pay larger attention to selection of a radiation source and to general planning of radiotherapeutic treatment. This part of the thesis includes a description of radiation side effects and a section discussing prevention of tumour diseases. In the practical part I compare the results of radiotherapeutic treatment of patients treated in two five-year intervals in the space of 16 years. Based on the comparison of the total number of reported oncologic diseases and the number of patients treated with radiotherapy, I arrive at the conclusion that priority is given to surgical methods rather than to radiotherapeutic ones. The reasons are obvious {--} availability of radiotherapy only in most of large centres, time {--} consumption connected with a larger number of sessions, and mental discomfort for the patient.
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