Edit Tóth-Molnár1,2
1Department of Ophthalmology, Albert Szent-Györgyi Faculty of Medicine, University of Szeged
2Faculty of Health Sciences and Social Studies, University of Szeged
The role of electrochemotherapy in the treatment of locally advanced or recurrent eyelid-periocular basal cell carcinoma: new pathway in ophthalmic oncology
The treatment of locally advanced or recurrent periocular basal cell carcinomas is a complex task. In spite of the expanding therapeutic options, the treatment of large or recurrent periocular skin malignancies remains a significant challenge, highlighting the importance of the emergence and integration of new therapeutic modalities into clinical practice.
In the field of ophthalmology, electrochemotherapy has recently gained attention as potential therapeutic option. Our group has been routinely applying the procedure in patients with challenging periocular basal cell carcinomas since 2014.
The procedure uses short-duration electrical pulses to transiently and reversibly permeabilize the cell membrane, allowing chemotherapeutic agents delivered in high concentrations to the interstitium to enter directly into the tumor cell.
Compared to other methods, electrochemotherapy is an efficient and safe procedure, with noteworthy advantages being its repeatability and the high intratumoral chemotherapeutic concentration achieved with low systemic load. High rates of complete remissions, along with good long-term tumor-free outcomes can be achieved in the treated patients, demonstrating the efficacy of the procedure.
The presentation will discuss the long term results of periocular-eyelid electrochemotherapy and the role of the treatment in the ophthalmic oncology practice.