Orthovoltage radiotherapy for nonmelanoma skin cancer (NMSC): Comparison between 2 different schedules.

<bold>Background: </bold>Radiotherapy is an established treatment for some types of patients with nonmelanoma skin cancer. A hypofractionated schedule has been proposed as a valuable option for elderly disabled patients to minimize the number of hospital visits.<bold>Objective: </bold>We sought to compare a weekly hypofractionated orthovoltage radiotherapy regimen with a standard daily one for the treatment of nonmelanoma skin cancer.<bold>Methods: </bold>A retrospective cohort study was performed on 436 tumors. Overall survival, disease-free survival, and cosmetic outcome were measured. Life-table analysis, Kaplan-Meier survival analysis, and multivariate Cox regression model were performed.<bold>Results: </bold>The hypofractionated regimen was not associated with increased recurrence rates and mortality, or with a poorer cosmetic outcome, when compared with the daily schedule.<bold>Limitations: </bold>Absence of complete information about acute treatment toxicity and a shorter follow-up time for patients receiving the weekly schedule are limitations of this study.<bold>Conclusions: </bold>A weekly hypofractionated regimen of orthovoltage radiotherapy seems to be the most appropriate approach in elderly disabled patients with nonmelanoma skin cancers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]