: Health,Psychology,Sağlık Blog-: Physicians Could Spot Melanoma Earlier in Men
28.04.2009

Physicians Could Spot Melanoma Earlier in Men

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In today’s society, there is much more to skin care than just clear skin and a glowing tan. For older men, it is very important to visit their physicians regularly to check for melanoma because they are less likely to find it themselves in time to be treated. Many men over the age of 40 are not fully aware of their skin cancer risks, or the need for regular exams to help check for early signs of skin cancer, when it is the easiest treat.

Dr. Susan Swetterr from the Stanford University Medical Center in California and her colleagues stated that trained physicians are far more likely to spot dangerous skin cancers in the earliest stages. The researchers stated, “For men 40 years or older, who constitute more than half of all melanoma deaths in the United States, we have identified at least two key variables (physician exams and education) as major targets for new interventions to promote earlier melanoma detection.”

Melanoma, which is considered to be the rarest and deadliest form of skin cancer, is becoming more and more common and the death rates are climbing, especially among me over the age of 50.

Swetter and her colleagues surveyed approximately 227 patients with melanoma age 40 and above between the years of 2004 and 2006 within three months of being diagnosed. Fewer than 20 percent of the men were actually aware of the melanoma warning signs and fewer than half of the men practiced self-examinations. A quarter of the men diagnosed had the thick, harder-to-treat tumors. The men who had the smaller tumors were much more treatable and were more likely to have been aware of the risks of skin cancer and the importance of exams for skin cancer by their physicians.

Alan Geller, from Harvard, also analyzed the data and found that more than half of the patients whose melanomas were detected by a physician and were age 65 or above. American that over the age of 65 usually have health coverage under Medicare, which is the federal insurance program for the elderly, and tend to make more frequent visits to their physician.

Most of the melanomas were found on the patient’s backs, and Geller and his colleagues said that the findings suggest the need for “Watch your back” education campaigns that stress the need for physician screening programs that are particularly useful for this high-risk group.

Melanoma cancers account for less than 5 percent of the skin cancer cases but causes the most number of deaths linked to skin cancer. The American Cancer Society estimates that approximately 62,480 new cases of melanoma were diagnosed in the United States during they year 2008 alone.

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