Review of recent advances in managing periocular skin malignancies

Daniel C Trotier; Leslie Huang; Suzanne W van Landingham; Adam R Burr; Vincent T Ma

doi:10.3389/fonc.2024.1275930

Review of recent advances in managing periocular skin malignancies

Front Oncol. 2024 Mar 4:14:1275930. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2024.1275930. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Daniel C Trotier^{1

2}, Leslie Huang¹, Suzanne W van Landingham^{1

3}, Adam R Burr^{1

4

5}, Vincent T Ma^{1

2

5

6}

Affiliations

¹ University of Wisconsin School of Medicine & Public Health, Madison, WI, United States.
² Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology, Medical Oncology, and Palliative Care, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States.
³ Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States.
⁴ Department of Human Oncology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States.
⁵ University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States.
⁶ Department of Dermatology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States.

Abstract

Management of cutaneous malignancies can be particularly challenging when they are located in the periocular region. The standard of care for localized disease is complete surgical excision, but this may not be possible without significant disruption to visual structures and facial appearance. Definitive radiation may be an option for some patients who cannot or do not wish to undergo surgery. Advances in systemic treatment options for locally advanced and metastatic skin cancers in the past 10 years have prompted investigation into neoadjuvant treatment of periocular cancers. The use of chemotherapy, immune checkpoint inhibitors, and targeted therapies have all been reported with varying degrees of success. For many patients, targeted therapies or immune checkpoint inhibitors should be considered depending on the cancer type, symptoms, and goals with the input of a multidisciplinary cancer care team. In this article, we systematically review the latest updates in surgical, radiotherapeutic, and medical management of periocular malignancies.

Keywords: Merkel cell carcinoma; basal cell carcinoma; cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma; melanoma; neoadjuvant therapy; periocular malignancy; periorbital malignancy; sebaceous gland carcinoma.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work was supported in part by an Unrestricted Grant from Research to Prevent Blindness, Inc. to the UW-Madison Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, and by the Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) program, through the NIH National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), grant UL1TR002373.