Wednesday, June 3, 2009

MOHS Surgery: Offer superior cure rate to all skin cancer

MOHS is advanced treatment option to treat skin cancer. This technique is quite effective in treating skin cancer and offer highest potential for recovery. This procedure is also known as chemosurgery and is mostly used to eradicate two most common type of skin cancer which is basel cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma.
The procedure is performed using local anesthesia. The surgeon removes the skin cancer and immediately looks at the specimen under a microscope to determine if entire tumor has been removed. If tumor is at the edges of the specimen, additional tissue removal is undertaken in a sequential fashion until there is no tumor left. After tumor removal, the Mohs surgeon may close the defect directly. If the defect is large or present at sensitive area, then Mohs surgeon may refer patient to a general plastic surgeon for repair of the defect. A qualified reconstructive surgeon can repair Mohs defects fairly easily, most without general anesthesia.
There are various advantageous of MOHS techniques. This technique gives superior cure rates and the cure rate MOHS micrographic surgery is the highest of all treatments for skin cancer—up to 99 percent even if other form of treatments have failed. The skin cancer is traced out to its roots and by microscopic examination, surgeon can pinpoint areas involving cancer and selectively remove tissues. MOHS surgery is low cost relative to that of radiation therapy, excision with frozen sections, or surgery in hospital operating rooms. In this procedure, there is negligible risk of complications from anesthesia, because of the almost exclusive use of local anesthesia in Mohs surgical procedures.
Mohs surgery should not be applied for every skin cancer in spite of its many advantages. Plus, to perform this surgery, it requires expertly trained physicians who can function as both surgeons and pathologists.