Melanoma News

Abdominal CT scan seldom detects hepatic metastases from uveal melanoma and may not be indicated for screening, according to a report in the March Archives of Ophthalmology. Reuters Health Information (Source: Medscape Today Headlines)

New Maryland legislation to protect youth from melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, is based on significant scientific evidence that indoor tanning before the age of 30 is undeniably linked to increased risk of developing the disease. Senator James N. Robey and Delegate William A. Bronrott represent a broad-based coalition of 20 legislators in the Senate and House co-sponsoring cross-filed bills SB 718 and HB 1039 to prohibit minors' use of tanning devices in tanning facilities and prevent any marketing offers of these services to minors... (Source: Health News from Medical News Today)

In this report, we describe a case of LCNEC of the vagina, which is believed to be the first case to date in the English literature. The patient is a 53-year old gravida 3, para 2, African-American woman who had a 4 month history of severe pelvic pain and difficulty voiding and was found to have a firm plate-like mass on the anterior vaginal wall. Thin prep of vaginal swap was interpreted as atypical glandular cells; however, the biopsies showed a large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma which was confirmed by diffuse strong immunoreactivity to AE1/3, CAM5.2, CK7, and CD56 in the tumor cells. Subsequent clinical workup showed that the patient also had numerous metastatic nodules in the bilateral lungs and a vaginal-urethral fistula caused by the tumor. The patient underwent palliative radiation...MedWorm Message: Get the very latest Swine Flu news via the MedWorm Swine Flu RSS news feed - updated hourly from thousands of authoritative health and news sources.

Immunologic treatment strategies are established in malignant
melanoma treatment, mainly focusing on Interleukin-2 in advanced disease
and interferon alpha in the adjuvant situation. In advanced
disease, therapies with IL-2, interferon and different
chemotherapeutic agents were not associated with better patient
survival in the vast majority of patients. Therefore, an overview
of novel immunological agents and combined therapeutic approaches
is presented in this review, covering allogenic and autologous
vaccine strategies, dendritic cell vaccination, strategies for
adoptive immunotherapy and T cell receptor gene transfer,
treatment with cytokines and monoclonal antibodies against the
CTLA-4 antigen. As emerging treatment strategies are based on
individual molecular and immunological charac...