Squamous Cell Carcinoma
If left untreated, squamous cell carcinoma can be highly aggressive, spread to distant organs, and lead to death.
Getting treated for squamous cell carcinoma at City of Hope gives you access to exceptional, coordinated care and makes you the focus of a comprehensive care team, including dermatologists, surgeons, medical oncologists, dermatopathologists and radiation oncologists, who are internationally recognized for their expertise and for shaping guidelines that are advancing the treatment of skin cancer.
Squamous cell carcinoma is the second most common form of skin cancer. More than one million cases are diagnosed in the U.S. every year.
- American Cancer Society
Squamous cells are the flat cells that form the top layer of the epidermis, which is the outer layer of your skin. Squamous cell carcinoma is skin cancer of the squamous cells; it develops when squamous cells grow uncontrollably.
Squamous cell carcinoma appears as growths that feel bumpy, bleed and crust over or that are raised with a depression in the center. Another warning sign is a sore or scab that hasn’t healed or gone away after two months.
City of Hope’s approach to treating squamous cell carcinoma starts with a coordinated, multidisciplinary care team whose main goal is offering an individualized plan that includes specialized surgical techniques and radiation therapy to preserve as much of your normal skin as possible while minimizing scarring.
Skin cancer is a disease that can appear in different ways in the body. Research at City of Hope — driven by patient-specific, individualized treatment strategies — is focused on those differences and on designing therapies that affect how skin cancer develops, progresses and spreads.
At City of Hope, you are steps away from labs where new cancer treatments are being developed every day. That proximity means you benefit from something unique in cancer care — bench-to-bedside treatment.
When you come to City of Hope, you have access to a strong network of support services and staff to help you and your family along your skin cancer journey.
City of Hope is internationally recognized for its research and breakthrough treatments, has been named one of America’s top cancer hospitals by U.S. News & World Report for more than a decade.
Our Commitment To Providing Exceptional Care Includes:
- Promising new therapies as part of our clinical trials program, including novel intralesional injection therapies. These include studying commercially approved agents such as TVEC, an oncolytic virus that directly targets melanoma tumors with other therapies.
- Collaboration with the Melanoma Research Foundation, National Clinical Trials Network, Cytokine Working Group, SWOG Cancer Research Network, and Cancer Immunotherapy Trials Network, providing quick access to the newest therapies and clinical trials
- Deep experience with immunotherapy-based treatments — including pivotal clinical trials for widely used drugs like ipilimumab, nivolumab and pembrolizumab
- Expertise with isolated limb infusion, a focused chemotherapy treatment unavailable at most other cancer centers
- Our internationally trained dermatopathologist combines clinical experience with leading-edge technology to provide the most accurate diagnosis.
- Tumor testing and customized drug therapy tailored to the molecular profile of specific skin cancers
- Expertise in advanced facial reconstructive and microvascular procedures for patients with complex skin cancers
- Survivorship clinics — including physical therapy for lymphedema-related side effects — provide support and monitoring throughout the disease.
Your care includes regular interaction and input from a team that includes oncologists, surgeons, radiation oncologists, dermatologists and pathologists, along with nurses, social workers and specially trained support staff.
City of Hope is one of only a few dozen centers in the U.S. using a comprehensive approach by a multidisciplinary team whose sole focus is treating skin cancer.
Our developments in the areas of breakthrough cancer drugs, bone marrow transplants and CAR T cell therapy are recognized internationally.
Our leadership in research and innovation continually enhances our ability to provide novel and differentiated approaches to cancer care.
