(NaturalNews) A new study published by the Mayo Clinic in the journal Archives of Dermatology has revealed that roughly half of all patients who undergo a heart transplant end up getting skin cancer within 15 years of the surgery. Among the 312 people evaluated in the study, 1,395 different skin cancers emerged following surgery.
Whenever a body part is surgically implanted, the body recognizes it as a foreign object and proceeds to attack it. Patients who undergo organ transplants usually have to take immune suppressant drugs for the rest of their lives in order to prevent the body from rejecting the organ. These drugs increase patients' risk of developing cancer and other serious diseases.
The Mayo Clinic study evaluated what types of skin cancers emerged following a heart transplant and found that all sorts of skin cancers, from minor to fatal, afflicted patients. While relatively rare, researchers discovered that some patients developed malignant melanomas, the most serious type of skin cancer. One study participant died from malignant melanoma.
A 2005 study published in the journal CANCER revealed that patients who undergo kidney transplants are four times more prone to getting melanoma. As patients age, that risk continues to increase due to the long term immuno-suppressive action of the drugs. Other studies have found that organ transplant patients are at a higher of developing all cancers, not just skin cancer.
Many doctors are encouraging patients who have undergone transplant surgery to perform self evaluations on a regular basis to identify the presence of skin cancer. By finding it early, the majority of skin cancers can be eradicated. Some also recommended that post surgery patients be screened regularly to help catch a developing cancer as early as possible.
Amazingly, some experts believe that the increased cancer risk following surgery highlights the amazing success of contemporary transplant surgery techniques. Their logic concludes that since surgery prolongs a person's life, those extra years allow additional time for future problems to materialize that would have otherwise been unable to.
While it may seem like a great success to have developed advanced ways of transplanting organs, many may argue that having to take potentially life-threatening drugs in order to keep the organs functioning is actually an ironic failure. Not every transplant patient will end up getting cancer but a great many will live out the rest of their days in poor health due to severe drug side effects.
Sources for this story include: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandst... http://www.sciencedaily.com/release...
Showing posts with label skin cancer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label skin cancer. Show all posts
Friday, February 12, 2010
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Public Health Warnings About Skin Cancer Lead to Widespread Vitamin D Deficiencies
(NaturalNews) Public health warnings about the skin cancer risks associated with sun exposure have led people to avoid sunlight to such an extent that vitamin D deficiencies have now become widespread, according to a study conducted by researchers from King's College London.
The body produces vitamin D upon exposure to the ultraviolet radiation from sunlight. It takes only 15 minutes of sun on the face and hands each day for a fair-skinned person to produce enough vitamin D for their body, although it takes longer for darker-skinned people and those living far from the equator, particularly in the winter. Nevertheless, vitamin D deficiency appears widespread. One recent study from University College London estimated that 12 percent of men and 20 percent of women are clinically deficient in the vitamin, while 57 percent of men and nearly 67 percent of women have insufficient levels.
Vitamin D plays a critical role in bone development and health, and is now also believed to help protect against high blood pressure, cancer, autoimmune diseases and asthma.
"There has been so much effort put into telling people about the damaging effects of ultraviolet light from sunshine, many now take extreme measures to ensure they don't get exposure by wearing moisturizers with factor 15 all year round," said lead researcher Veronique Bataille, calling for new guidelines on sun exposure. "We don't want to say that sunbathing is healthy as there is clearly a risk, but people do need a bit of sunshine to stay healthy."
Bataille and colleagues measured blood vitamin D levels of 1,414 white women in the United Kingdom and collected information on their skin type, use of tanning beds, and history of foreign holidays and sunburns. They found that contrary to expectation, the women with the lightest skin actually had the lowest levels of vitamin D. The researchers concluded that this was likely due to lighter-skinned women avoiding the sun over fear of skin cancer.
Light-skinned women were also less likely to use tanning beds or take vacations out of Britain.
Sources for this story include: www.telegraph.co.uk.
The body produces vitamin D upon exposure to the ultraviolet radiation from sunlight. It takes only 15 minutes of sun on the face and hands each day for a fair-skinned person to produce enough vitamin D for their body, although it takes longer for darker-skinned people and those living far from the equator, particularly in the winter. Nevertheless, vitamin D deficiency appears widespread. One recent study from University College London estimated that 12 percent of men and 20 percent of women are clinically deficient in the vitamin, while 57 percent of men and nearly 67 percent of women have insufficient levels.
Vitamin D plays a critical role in bone development and health, and is now also believed to help protect against high blood pressure, cancer, autoimmune diseases and asthma.
"There has been so much effort put into telling people about the damaging effects of ultraviolet light from sunshine, many now take extreme measures to ensure they don't get exposure by wearing moisturizers with factor 15 all year round," said lead researcher Veronique Bataille, calling for new guidelines on sun exposure. "We don't want to say that sunbathing is healthy as there is clearly a risk, but people do need a bit of sunshine to stay healthy."
Bataille and colleagues measured blood vitamin D levels of 1,414 white women in the United Kingdom and collected information on their skin type, use of tanning beds, and history of foreign holidays and sunburns. They found that contrary to expectation, the women with the lightest skin actually had the lowest levels of vitamin D. The researchers concluded that this was likely due to lighter-skinned women avoiding the sun over fear of skin cancer.
Light-skinned women were also less likely to use tanning beds or take vacations out of Britain.
Sources for this story include: www.telegraph.co.uk.
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