May 12, 2024 | Southern Arizona
Is Melanoma Genetic?
Melanoma is the most dangerous type of skin cancer. It forms in the cells that produce melanin, which is the substance responsible for your skin’s color. Exposure to ultraviolet radiation (UV rays) from the sun or tanning beds increases the risk of developing any skin cancer. In the case of melanoma, experts say there’s also a strong link between genetics (your family history) and your risk of developing melanoma.
Family History and Genetic Factors
If one or more of your parents, siblings or children develop melanoma, you have a higher risk of developing melanoma than a person with no family history of the disease. Experts aren’t sure whether the increased risk is because close relatives tend to have similar lifestyles (such as spending lots of time outside in the sun together) or if a genetic mutation is responsible. Regardless of why a family history of melanoma raises the risk of developing the disease, knowing that there’s a link means you should take precautions. That can include reducing the skin cancer risk factors you can control and paying close attention to changes in your skin.
Am I at Risk for Melanoma?
Everyone is at risk for melanoma, regardless of family history. Some people with a family history of the disease never get it. Some people with no family history will get it.
Fortunately, there are concrete steps you can take to reduce your melanoma risks, including:
Did you know sunscreen can expire? Check the date and do not use if it’s expired!
- Avoiding tanning beds.
- Limiting your time outdoors when the sun’s rays are strongest (between 10 am and 4 pm).
- Applying sunscreen of SPF 30 or higher liberally 15-30 minutes before any sun exposure and reapplying every 2 hours throughout the day, after toweling, becoming sweaty or getting wet.
- Checking the expiration date of your sunscreen – do not use if it’s expired.
- Following directions for sunscreen application on babies less than 6 months old.
- Wearing protective clothing, hats and sunglasses so sunlight can’t reach your skin.
Early Detection Increases Survival Rates for Melanoma
Melanoma is responsible for 75% of all skin cancer deaths. A person’s risk of dying from melanoma increases the deeper the cancer grows. Melanomas that aren’t detected early and are allowed to grow can spread to other parts of the body, and because melanoma is an aggressive cancer, it spreads quickly – usually within three to 18 months from the time it becomes noticeable.
Frequent skin exams are especially important for people with a family history of melanoma. Once a melanoma has spread (doctors use the term “metastasized”), the cancer is much more difficult to treat. That’s why it’s so important for everyone to examine their skin and have their skin examined regularly by a doctor. These exams give you and your doctor an opportunity to spot suspicious growths on the skin early. A melanoma that is found early can be removed from the skin before it is able to spread.
Skin Self Exams: What to Look For
Examining your skin monthly allows you to become familiar with the location and appearance of your freckles, moles and other pigmented areas. Whenever you detect changes to existing marks on your body, or new growths or pigmented areas that look unusual or are growing quickly, you should have them checked out by a dermatologist.
Doctors recommend remembering the ABCDEs of melanomas when you’re checking your skin:
- Asymmetry. If you draw an imaginary line through the middle of a melanoma, the two halves would not match.
- Border. The edges of a melanoma are usually uneven, fuzzy or jagged.
- Color. Melanomas change colors and are often a combination of black, brown and tan.
- Diameter. Melanomas may grow larger than the size of a pencil eraser.
- Elevation. Once a mark on your skin becomes raised or thicker, it is a serious red flag indicating a melanoma may be spreading and should be evaluated by a doctor immediately.
Melanoma can be deadly. Whether you have a family history of the disease or not, you’re at risk. Get to know your skin so you’ll know when something simply doesn’t seem right, and if you notice any changes of your skin, it is best to visit your doctor or dermatologist. Arizona Oncology has locations throughout the state if your provider determines a referral is needed.
Originally posted in 2017, updated in 2024.
May 11, 2024 | Southern Arizona
Prostate cancer research has been an ongoing process of looking into causes, prevention, detection, and treatment of prostate cancer. But with hundreds upon hundreds of published studies out there, how can patients keep up with what’s new? Here are some recent developments to watch in prostate cancer treatment:
1. Genetic & Genomic Testing Related to Prostate Cancer
Genes can play a role in both the development and behavior of prostate cancer. Two types of tests that can be helpful in acquiring information are genetic testing and genomic testing. While they sound similar, they collect different information.
- Genetic testing is used more frequently to define high-risk populations who have yet to get cancer. People who have a known family history of cancer may want to investigate further with genetic testing to see if they carry a gene mutation that puts them at risk. New research on gene changes linked to prostate cancer is helping scientists better understand how prostate cancer develops.
- Genomic testing, on the other hand, is done for patients who have been diagnosed with prostate cancer in hopes of determining how the cancer might behave. This information can be beneficial in deciding the course of care for your cancer. Some of the genomic tests available now include Decipher, Oncotype DX, ProstaVysion, and the Prolaris Test.
Depending on a patient’s circumstance, a doctor may recommend either test if it could be beneficial to the detection of an inherited risk for or the treatment of prostate cancer.
2. Immunotherapy
The goal of immunotherapy is to boost the body’s immune system to help fight off or destroy cancer cells. Prostate cancer has seen much promise and potential in changing the way this disease is treated and cured in the field of immunotherapy.
Prostate cancer immunotherapy studies are being conducted in the following seven categories:
- Therapeutic vaccines: intended to treat or cure a disease by stimulating the immune system
- Oncolytic virus therapies: intended to kill cancer cells and stimulate an immune response against tumors
- Checkpoint inhibitors: drugs that block normal proteins on cancer cells, or the proteins on the T-cells that respond to them
- Adoptive cell therapies: the collection of T-cells from the blood, which are then modified, and injected back into the patient so they can better recognize cancer cells in the body
- Adjuvant immunotherapies: substances used to boost the immune system so the patient’s response to therapeutic vaccines can be improved
- Cytokines: the injection of laboratory-produced cytokines (proteins that boost the immune system) to increase the number of ones the body would normally produce
- Monoclonal antibodies: antibodies designed in a lab that specifically target a certain antigen, such as one found on cancer cells
According to the American Cancer Society, one promising approach for the future might be to combine a checkpoint inhibitor with a prostate cancer vaccine. This combination could strengthen the immune response and help a cancer vaccine work better.
3. Earlier Detection
Researchers are trying to develop a better prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test, which could lead to earlier prostate cancer detection (PSA is a protein that is produced exclusively by prostate cells. An overabundance of this protein may indicate that cancer is present).
Additionally, cancer researchers are developing a urine test to find a gene called prostate cancer gene 3 (PCA3), which could also help detect prostate cancer more quickly. When a man has prostate cancer, PCA3 is made in larger amounts when a man has prostate cancer. More accurate testing could help prostate cancer doctors decide if a man needs a prostate biopsy. With a better testing method, more healthy men could be screened for prostate cancer, resulting in prostate cancers being found and treated early.
Thirdly, imaging with PSMA PET is far more sensitive than combinations of bone scan and CT imaging to detect prostate cancer spread, to assist staging, and to dictate treatment alterations.
4. Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy (SBRT)
Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy (SBRT) is a highly targeted form of radiation treatment that delivers precise, high doses to tumors while minimizing damage to surrounding healthy tissue. Radiation therapy using SBRT can be used to treat patients whose cancer has spread to five or fewer sites. This treatment can help keep the cancer from recurring and may also delay the need for hormone therapy.
5. The Approval of Pluvicto
Pluvicto is a targeted radioligand therapy for advanced prostate cancer that binds to cancer cells and delivers radiation directly to them, helping to slow disease progression and manage symptoms. It is an option for patients with castrate-resistant prostate cancer with spread who have not had success with other treatments.
Most new research is developed through prostate cancer clinical trials. Prostate cancer research trials are designed to test new ways to prevent, find, diagnose, treat, and manage the disease more effectively.
Arizona Oncology has recently participated in a variety of prostate cancer clinical trials and has another exciting one on the horizon. Don’t hesitate to speak with your prostate cancer specialist today about the possibility of joining a prostate cancer clinical trial.
Originally posted in 2018. Updated in 2024.
May 10, 2024 | Southern Arizona
It turns out there’s another bonus to marriage: early skin cancer detection and management. According to a study published in JAMA Dermatology, melanomas are more likely to be detected early in married people than people who are single, divorced or widowed.
How can being married help reduce my risks?
Data suggests that spouses or partners may help identify melanoma that may have otherwise gone unnoticed.
The analysis, which included 52,063 people of various marital statuses, found that skin lesions were detected sooner among married people than they were among those who were never married, divorced, or widowed. The study also showed that married people were most likely to have skin lesions looked at by a primary care physician or a skin cancer specialist, such as a dermatologist.
In other words, spouses can help in several ways by applying sunscreen in those hard to reach places, noticing new and suspicious moles on their partners, and urging their partner to get those moles checked out.
If you aren’t married, however, consider teaming up with a partner or having a physician regularly do a spot check on your skin.
Skin self-examinations are also very important. When detected early, skin cancer is almost always curable. This is why getting to know your skin though regular self-exams is so important; so that any new or changing marks or lesions can be caught quickly. It is also a good idea to be aware of the other factors that could put you at risk for melanoma so you can take the necessary steps toward prevention.
If an area on your skin looks suspicious or concerns you, speak with your doctor immediately. The sooner you have it checked out, the easier it can be to cure. Our team of cancer experts are available if you need to see a skin cancer specialist after diagnosis.
Originally posted in 2018, updated in 2024.
May 9, 2024 | Southern Arizona
Throughout my practice as a radiation oncologist, I have noticed a recurring question that patients ask; “If the surgeon sticks a needle into the tumor or if they expose the tumor to air, will the tumor spread?” The answer to the question is that realistically, the possibility is very low. In 2015, the Mayo Clinic analyzed 250 patients that had biopsies and found no risk of tumors spreading associated with the procedure. They went further and analyzed 2,000 Medicare patients with pancreatic cancer and found no significant difference in cancer spread between those that had a biopsy versus those that did not.
I was not able to find any scientific surgical data that indicates exposing a tumor to air will cause it to spread. Unfortunately, there are old case reports where tumors were ruptured, directly transected, and contamination of surgical instruments increased the risk of spread or contamination. However, today’s modern surgical techniques minimize these risks. Imaging studies such as CT scans, ultrasounds, PET scans, and MRI imaging allow better visualization of the tumor size, shape, blood supply, etc. These technologies have allowed surgeons to plan ahead on their surgery. Common examples include giving preoperative chemotherapy and radiation for locally advanced rectal cancers. Studies show this results in improved sphincter-sparing (not having a permanent colostomy) as well as improving the chances cancer doesn’t come back locally after surgery. In breast cancers, imaging studies such as MRI have allowed some patients to be treated with chemotherapy before surgery, to shrink a tumor’s size to improve surgical outcomes and increase the possibility that breast conservation therapy can be done.
Related reading: 12 Common Myths About Cancer
The importance of a biopsy or surgery is critical for a patient’s cancer treatment. A biopsy documents the presence of cancer. For most cancer treatments, more than one type of treatment is used; this includes surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. Thus, it is important to ensure the risks involved with treatment is applied to cancer and not a benign tumor.
Biopsies are also necessary not only to justify risks of therapy but to also establish proper treatments. For most malignancies, surgery plays a primary role by removing the tumor and allowing chemotherapy and radiation to target what may have escaped or microscopic cells that may have been left behind after surgery.
A good example where surgery is not required for a cure would be anal cancer. These tumors can be cured entirely with chemotherapy and radiation. However, these tumors can sometimes be hard to distinguish between a deficient lying rectal cancer. For rectal cancer, treatment would require not only chemotherapy and radiation but also a radical surgery that sometimes leads to a permanent colostomy. The only way to distinguish these vastly different tumors and treatments is with a biopsy.
Unfortunately, many cancers are invasive or infiltrating. This means at the microscopic level; the cancer cells are breaking through protective membranes and entering lymphatic and vascular spaces. This allows cancer to spread towards lymph nodes or into the blood system. Many times cancer may have already spread before surgery. Current medical imaging may not have been able to pick up small lesions, and by the time the patient has surgery or shortly after, these lesions may have grown larger. Therefore, leading to the belief that surgery or the exposure to air caused the tumors to spread.
Since I began practicing radiation oncology over 25 years ago, there has been an explosion in cancer biology as well as drug therapy. We are now able to determine the molecular profile of a tumor. By knowing its genetic makeup, we can determine if a cancer has a high likelihood to spread and thereby benefit from chemotherapy. Additionally, the presence of specific genes also allows oncologists to be able to select particular drug therapies. When certain types of genes are found, they can increase the aggressiveness, as well as evasiveness of a tumor from the immune system. There are now specific drugs that are designed to shut this gene down causing the tumor to die or be more recognizable to the body’s immune system.
In conclusion, there is no definitive evidence that a biopsy or surgery has led to a spread of cancer. A biopsy or surgery is necessary for a cancer diagnosis, proper treatment, and in some cases, a cure.
Robert Gin, MD is a radiation oncologist at Arizona Oncology. He earned his medical degree at the University of Arizona Medical School. Dr. Gin is board certified in radiation oncology and is a member of the American Society for Radiation Oncology.
May 4, 2024 | Southern Arizona
Summer sun safety means you should focus on safe, outdoor fun while you protect your skin from damage, including dry and itchy skin, sunburns and skin cancer. Arizona typically receives 360 hours of sunshine in September, so you have plenty of opportunities to be outside. With a little planning, you can enjoy the summer sun and protect your skin at the same time.
Why is Sun Safety Important?
You might not think about it, but your skin is the body’s largest organ. It’s exposed to conditions that other organs are not because it’s on the outside instead of the inside of your body. This makes your skin vulnerable to weather and the environment, including sunlight.
While skin cancer can appear anywhere, not just the areas that were sunburned previously, some of the most common places include your face, scalp, neck, ears, lips, and the backs of your hands. Since skin cancer can be a result of sun exposure over a long period of time, not just a one-time sunburn, it is important to always practice sun safety.
According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), every year about 5.4 million Americans are diagnosed with skin cancer including basal cell skin cancer, squamous cell skin cancer, and melanoma. Melanoma—the deadliest form of skin cancer—is more often related to intense exposure and sunburn.
Is Sun Safety for Everyone?
Yes! If you have light skin, your hair is red or blonde or you sunburn easily, you have a higher risk of developing skin cancer. But people with darker skin can and do get skin cancer. ACS-funded skin cancer researchers have found that people with dark hair and dark eyes who have a gene mutation called MC1R also have a higher chance of developing melanoma if they don’t take precautions in the sun. Even if you have dark skin or tan easily, you must keep your skin safe.
Common Misbeliefs About Sun Safety
- Skin Cancer Risk Myth 1: You don’t have to worry about your skin unless you’re outside for a long time.
Reality: Even if you’re only in the sun for a few minutes at a time, you can get sunburned. Use sunscreen of at least SPF 30 all over every day, paying close attention to areas that often get exposed to the sun such as hands, arms, and face. Read more about choosing the right sunscreen for you in our blog on how to read a sunscreen label.
- Skin Cancer Risk Myth 2: Waterproof sunscreen will last all day.
Reality: Many sunscreen bottles say they’re water resistant. That means it will wear off when you get wet. This includes any activities that involve water but sunscreen can also be worn off just by sweating. If you’re outside, you should reapply every 90 minutes to two hours and right after sweating or swimming.
- Skin Cancer Risk Myth 3: Clothing will protect your skin from the sun.
Reality: While it’s a good idea to stay covered while in the sun, you should also make sure that the clothes have a tight weave so the rays won’t go through the fabric as easily. Also look for darker or bright colors and/or fabric that has been specially treated to block sunlight.
- Skin Cancer Risk Myth 4: If you get a “base tan” you don’t have to worry as much about getting a sunburn.
Reality: Many people think that getting in some tanning bed sessions will make it so that they don’t get a sunburn once they’re outside. The ACS has confirmed that the UV rays used in tanning beds are just as damaging as UV rays you’re exposed to outside. Not only can you get sunburned from the tanning bed, it is also causing as much damage to your skin as being outside with no sun protection.
- Skin Cancer Risk Myth 5: You only have to be concerned about sun exposure between 10:00 am and 4:00 pm.
Reality: The sun is strongest during those hours, but anytime you’re out in the sun you need to be careful – especially in the Arizona sun!
Steps to Stay Sun-Safe and Avoid Skin Cancer
The American Cancer Society has a fun way for you to remember how to stay safe in the sun. If you’re going outside, “Slip, Slop, Slap, and Wrap.” This means:
- Slip on a shirt.
- Slop on sunscreen.
- Slap on a hat.
- Wrap on sunglasses.
Watch out for changes in your skin like raised red patches, pink growths or flat areas that look like scars. If you find any of these, talk to your doctor. Have fun in the sun, but remember to stay sun-safe!
Originally posted in 2017, updated in 2024.
May 3, 2024 | Southern Arizona
Did you know that exercise is one of the most important actions you can take during your cancer treatment? It’s true!
New research has shown that exercise before, during, and after cancer treatments can:
- Help alleviate side effects of cancer treatment, such as fatigue, pain, and bone and muscle loss
- Fuel your appetite
- Improve your quality of life by reducing stress, anxiety, and depression
- Reduce the risk of cancer recurrence
- Help sustain your heart health
- Maintain or improve your physical abilities
- Boost your self-image and confidence
- Help control your weight
This doesn’t mean cancer patients shouldn’t take time to rest. It simply means that adding some form of regular exercise to your daily life–even during cancer treatments–can be a wise move in improving your cancer care.
How much exercise is too much?
An exercise program should be based on what’s safe and effective for the cancer patient. It should also be something that’s enjoyable. Since certain factors like the type and stage of your cancer or the amount of stamina you have may limit what you can handle, you may want to talk with your oncologist(s) before beginning a specific exercise regimen.
For cancer survivors (those who are no longer receiving treatment), The American Cancer Society recommends aiming for at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity five days a week. Strength training should account for at least two of those days. Start slowly and progress incrementally. As you get stronger, try to increase the amount of time you spend exercising as well as the intensity of your activities.
Patients currently going through cancer treatment should never push themselves. Talking with your cancer specialist is a good way to set guidelines on an acceptable amount of exercise.
Getting Started
It’s important to remember that you can do this! Even a little exercise is better than no exercise, so start slowly and be consistent.
Some ways you can be more physically active throughout and after your cancer treatment according to The American Cancer Society may include:
- Taking the stairs instead of the elevator
- Going dancing
- Weeding the garden
- Mowing the grass
- Playing active games with children such as freeze tag or jump rope
- Walking or biking to your destination
- Working out to a DVD or doing stretches and weight-lifting while watching TV
To avoid boredom, vary your routine or exercise with a friend.
Remember, only do what you can handle. While the goal is to be more active, it is important to keep it safe, fun, and manageable.
The sooner you start exercising, the better you’ll feel.
Sources:
Originally posted in 2018, updated in 2024.
Page 3 of 18«12345...10...»Last »
