Laminated holmium-166-containing electrospun bandages for use against skin cancer

The number of non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC) cases in the US will increase significantly over the next decade due to a rise in UV exposure. One of the treatment methods used to remove NMSC lesions is radiation therapy. The two types of radiation therapy used in the clinic are external beam therapy and brachytherapy. However, both require specialized on-site instrumentation and for patients to remain immobile. In this work, we studied an alternative radiation therapy - one that does not require expensive on-site equipment and would allow for enhanced patient mobility and, thus, comfort. We prepared sealed source, nylon-laminated holmium-166-containing radiotherapeutic bandages and used them in C3H/HeN mice with murine SCCVII tumor grafts. Overall, tumor sizes were smallest when treated with therapeutically relevant radiation doses via radiotherapeutic bandages (compared to controls), and no histological evidence of toxicity to tissues was observed. Thus, our optimized radiotherapeutic bandage offers a flexible approach to treating NMSC.