Skin Cancer

If dermatologists don’t more effectively police themselves, experts say, they may lose their ability to perform in-office dermatopathology. Dermatopathology also faces competitive pressures and aggressive fee reductions, these experts add.

Results of a new study suggest pain and itching can be an indication of skin cancer.

The U.S. Surgeon General has issued a statement citing skin cancer as a “major public health problem” and noting the danger of indoor tanning and sun exposure.

New prognostic factors may help to predict survival in patients diagnosed with thin melanoma, recent study findings suggest.

Genentech has announced that its phase 3 coBRIM study, evaluating the safety and efficacy of a combination of cobimetinib and vemurafenib for the treatment of melanoma, has met its primary endpoint.

When was the last time you got really excited about dermatology? I mean, in your bones, core-shaking, vitality-restoring, conquer the universe type of elation. If the answer is “Well, I can’t remember the last time.” or worse yet, “Maybe never?” then perhaps it is time to throw a party.

Advanced basal cell carcinoma is a term whose frequency of usage has increased recently, in part, due to the introduction of the Hedgehog pathway inhibitor, vismodegib. Advanced basal cell carcinoma (aBCC) is comprised of two subtypes of BCC associated with significant morbidity and mortality, locally advanced BCC (laBCC) and metastatic BCC (metBCC).

Electronic surface brachytherapy allows dermatologists to offer patients another safe, effective option for nonmelanoma skin cancer (NMSC), many experts say. And if the specialty doesn’t seize the opportunity, they add, it might lose some skin cancer treatments to radiation oncologists.

Since the dawn of smoothened inhibitors, patients with locally advanced and metastatic basal cell carcinoma (BCC) now have a new and effective treatment alternative beyond the traditional and less optimal treatment approaches such as surgery and radiotherapy.

The Food and Drug Administration is requiring black-box warnings on tanning beds, advising the devices shouldn’t be used by those under age 18.

Results of a phase 1b trial of nivolumab combined with ipilimumab demonstrated one- and two-year survival rates of 94 and 88 percent, respectively, in patients with advanced melanoma.

Researchers in Australia are cautioning about an aggressive form of melanoma that looks like a pimple, leading many doctors to dismiss it as harmless.

In diagnosing and treating sebaceous carcinoma, poorly differentiated tumors carry a poor prognosis, and the presence of Muir Torre syndrome (MTS) brings additional cancer risk, according to an expert.

Findings of a Kaiser Permanante study suggest that radiation treatment can help reduce the recurrence of Merkel cell carcinoma, but that chemotherapy appears to have little effect on recurrence or survival.

A recent study suggests that the most important predictive factors of recurrence for nonmelanoma skin cancers (NMSC) following radiotherapy include immunosuppression, age of the patient, tumor size as well as the treatment modality used.

Defects in the skin that cause eczema may also help to lower the risk of skin cancer, recent research suggests.

Histological reports on atypical or dysplastic nevi that include margin comments appear to have a significant impact on how the clinician will proceed regarding the potential re-excision of lesions, according to a recent literature review.

Many of the current definitions of skin diseases used in dermatology have changed and morphed over the years, as clinicians learn more and amass volumes of new information regarding many different features, characteristics and associations of dermatologic diseases.

Physicians have greatly changed the ways in which they use photodynamic therapy (PDT) since it was introduced, according to an expert who spoke at the South Beach Symposium recently.

Treatments that combine newer targeted therapies have begun to lift the “death sentence” that advanced melanoma formerly carried, an expert says.

Although skin cancers occur less commonly in skin of color (SOC), an expert says, their poorer prognosis reveals a need for increased education among patients and providers.

A new study demonstrates that while melanoma diagnoses in both men and women are increasing, middle-aged women are being diagnosed with melanoma at staggering rates, alarming researchers.

Field therapy in patients with multiple facial actinic keratoses (AKs) is important for preventing the development of new, clinically visible lesions and squamous cell carcinoma. Yet, for a number of reasons, including the need for prolonged topical treatment and poor tolerability, field therapy is widely underused.

Video education tools aimed at men boost attendance at whole-body clinical skin examinations and enhances men’s awareness of skin health concerns, a recent study indicates.

Patients who take the erectile dysfunction treatment Viagra (sildenafil citrate, Pfizer) are at an increased risk of developing melanoma, recent research suggests.