title: Recurrent squamous cell carcinoma of the skin treated successfully with single agent cetuximab therapy.
abstract: Recurrent squamous cell carcinoma of the skin is a rare but difficult to treat condition. Frequently, the disease presents itself in elderly patients with poor performance status and bearing many comorbidities, thus the decision to administer systemic chemotherapy becomes difficult to make. In addition, current chemotherapeutic protocols response rates are far from satisfactory. Recently cetuximab, a chimeric antibody against epidermal growth factor receptor, is increasingly being reported as an alternative treatment. We therefore report this case of a recurrent squamous cell carcinoma of the skin in an elderly woman with poor performance status and who had an excellent clinical response to single agent cetuximab therapy with complete resolution of the disease and minimal toxicity during the course of the treatment to provide evidence for future prospective clinical trials.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, Namık Kemal University, Tekirdag, Turkey.
authors.forename: Selcuk
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Seber
authors.affiliation: Pathology Department, Tekirdag State Hospital, Tekirdag, Turkey.
authors.forename: Aylin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gonultas
authors.affiliation: Pathology Department, Tekirdag State Hospital, Tekirdag, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ozlem
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Ozturk
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, Namık Kemal University, Tekirdag, Turkey.
authors.forename: Tarkan
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yetisyigit
keywords: EGFR inhibiton; cetuximab; squamous cell carcinoma of the skin