Clinical and radiobiological consideration of cyclical hypofractionated radiation therapy also known as QUAD Shot for neglected skin cancer disfiguring the face of a non-compliant patient who was refusing surgery and protracted radiation therapy: case report

Although surgery is the mainstay of local treatment for skin cancer, definitive radiation therapy (RT) has been also applied for patients who are unable to tolerate surgery. Definitive RT regimens usually consist of daily treatment for 4–7 weeks. Such protracted daily RT regimens, however, would not be feasible for non-compliant patients or patients who are unable to make multiple daily trips for weeks. Without treatment, however, skin cancers can continuously progress and cause distressing symptoms. A cyclical hypofractionated RT (QUAD Shot: 14 Gy in 4 fractions, twice-daily treatments with 6 hours interval on 2 consecutive days) can be a practical RT regimen for those patients. In this report, we present the successful treatment course of repeated QUAD Shots in a 79-year-old patient with neglected skin cancer that was disfiguring his face yet declined definitive surgery and protracted RT. We also evaluated and compared biologically equivalent doses between QUAD Shots and conventionally fractionated protracted RT regimens.