With 72% response rates to neoadjuvant immunotherapy, surgeons are shifting from immediate, aggressive surgery to a "wait-and-see" approach. Shrinking the tumor first can turn a morbid, disfiguring operation into a much simpler procedure, fundamentally changing the initial surgical evaluation for cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (CSCC).
The next frontier in CSCC isn't just about new drugs, but about optimizing existing ones. A key research area is determining the minimum number of immunotherapy doses required for an optimal response—potentially just one or two—to limit toxicity, reduce treatment burden, and personalize care for high-risk patients.
The success of immunotherapy in neoadjuvant and adjuvant settings has rendered the traditional, sequential referral model (dermatologist to surgeon to oncologist) obsolete. Optimal care now demands an integrated, team-based discussion among all specialists *before* the first treatment decision is made to determine the best sequence and timing.
Genetic tests like DecisionDX for squamous cell carcinoma are evolving from simply predicting recurrence risk to actively informing treatment choices. Ongoing studies are exploring whether these tests can determine a patient's potential benefit from adjuvant radiation therapy, representing a critical step toward personalized medicine.
Sentinel lymph node biopsy was historically inconsistent in CSCC because a positive finding had no approved systemic treatment path. With adjuvant cemiplimab's approval, identifying microscopic nodal disease now directly impacts treatment eligibility, potentially making the procedure a new standard of care for certain high-risk patients.
Instead of a rigid, pre-defined treatment plan, clinicians are adopting a "response-determined" approach for cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma. A tumor initially deemed unresectable can become operable after just one or two doses of immunotherapy, requiring dynamic, ongoing collaboration between surgical and medical oncology teams to adjust the plan.