Perioperative Treatment Strategies for Advanced Melanoma and Non-Melanoma Skin Cancers

2025

Perioperative

CSCC

BCC

Melanoma

MCC

Authors

Kennedy H. Sun

Sach Thakker

Jonathan Greenzaid

Micah Belzberg

David M. Miller

Vishal A. Patel

Published

October 6, 2025

Doi

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaad.2025.09.098

Abstract:

Perioperative therapies, including neoadjuvant and neoadjuvant plus adjuvant, are developing and promising approaches to improve management of cutaneous malignancies. This review summarizes key studies of perioperative therapies to guide clinical practice in treatment of melanoma, cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, basal cell carcinoma, and Merkel cell carcinoma. The clinical trials and real-world studies reviewed routinely demonstrated that perioperative strategies, especially with immune checkpoint inhibitors, yielded high pathological response rates, improved survival, reduced treatment side effects, and decreased surgical morbidity. Moreover, perioperative therapies could enable treatment step down and even avoidance of surgery altogether.

Citation:

Sun KH, Thakker S, Greenzaid J, Belzberg M, Miller DM, Patel VA. Perioperative Treatment Strategies for Advanced Melanoma and Non-Melanoma Skin Cancers. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2025 Oct 6:S0190-9622(25)02962-7. doi: 10.1016/j.jaad.2025.09.098. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 41061991.