From August to October, the largest number of cases of melanoma is detected in Poland throughout the year, experts said at a meeting with journalists on Friday during the XNUMXth Congress of the Czerniak Academy in Warsaw.
Prof. Piotr Rutkowski, head of the Soft Tissue, Bone and Melanoma Clinic of the Oncology Center in Warsaw, said that every year at the end of summer, the most people who want to check the condition of their skin after a vacation visit dermatologists. This is when doctors manage to detect melanoma, as well as other skin cancers – emphasized the specialist.
Women most often come to the skin examination. Many of them are afraid that after a period of intense sunbathing, they have developed skin changes that may be a malignant tumor.
The awareness of the risk of melanoma is increasing in our country, although it is still insufficient – said Dr. Ewa Kalinka-Warzocha from the Regional Oncology Center of the Provincial Specialist Hospital. Copernicus in Łódź. Men still rarely come to the skin check. If they come, women usually bring them.
Specialists emphasized that regular skin examination is the best method of early detection of melanoma, when there is the best chance of curing it. Unfortunately, in many patients in Poland melanoma is still detected too late. For this reason, only 60 percent are cured. patients, while in Western European countries the effectiveness of treatment of this cancer reaches 80%. In Germany and the USA, it is possible to cure up to 90 percent. sick.
We hope that the detection of melanoma will improve in our country, which will contribute to the fact that this disease will be treated more effectively in our country – said Prof. Rutkowski. However, more people need to have their skin checked.
The specialist praised the use of the so-called melanobuses. During this summer, for two weeks, he circled the beaches of the Baltic Sea and encouraged skin examinations (the research was carried out by a dermatologist with the help of a nurse).
In such a short time, between 200 and 300 beach-goers were tested every day, several thousand people in total – said prof. Rutkowski. In 4-5 percent of the examined patients, suspicious changes were detected that require further specialized tests, mainly histopathological. It is suspected that some of them could be caused by the development of melanoma.
The incidence of this cancer among Poles doubles every 10 years (it has tripled in the last 20 years). Currently, almost 3 are detected. cases per year. The main reason for this is the fashion for a “beautiful tan”, under the influence of which many people tan intensively and use solariums.
People with light and freckled skin, especially prone to burns, are most exposed to melanoma. People who have many birthmarks on the body also get sick more often. They should see a dermatologist for a skin check at least once a year, even if they avoid intensive sunbathing. (PAP)