Transplant patients face skin cancer risk

[Editor-in-Chief]

Transplant patients face skin cancer risk

August 1, 2005

BY JIM RITTER Health Reporter


A few years after getting a successful liver transplant in 1992, Stan Kreczmer faced another challenge -- an unending battle with skin cancer.

Doctors have removed more than 20 cancerous growths, a side effect of the drugs Kreczmer must take to protect his liver from rejection.

"I've got scars all over my arms, my face, my chest, my back," said Kreczmer, a 69-year-old retired gas station owner who lives in south suburban Frankfort.

Doctors have long known that transplant drugs increase the risk of various cancers. Studies in recent years have shown the skin cancer risk is especially high.

Transplant patients face a 10- to 100-fold increased risk of skin cancer. Between 35 percent and 70 percent of transplant patients will develop skin cancer within 20 years of surgery, said Kreczmer's dermatologist, Dr. Murad Alam of Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

Immune system suppressed

Northwestern is among a handful of hospitals that have established skin cancer clinics for transplant patients.

Before their transplants, clinic patients are warned to be on the lookout for skin cancer. One year after surgery, they come to the clinic for a full-body skin check. Any cancerous growths are removed immediately, and the patient returns as often as every three months. If no cancer is found, the patient returns every year or two.

Transplant drugs suppress the immune system so it doesn't reject the new organ. But this also might reduce the ability to kill cancer cells.

Some transplant patients get 20 or 30 skin cancers a year, Alam said. "It can become an explosive problem."

More than one million skin cancers are diagnosed each year in the United States. Signs include a change in the size or color of a mole or scaliness, bleeding or a change in the appearance of a bump or nodule.

Removal methods

Most skin cancers are nonmelanomas, which rarely spread to other parts of the body. Less frequent melanomas account for most of the 10,600 skin cancer deaths each year. But even melanomas are usually curable when caught early.

Doctors use several techniques to remove skin cancers, including cutting out, scraping, burning, freezing and radiation. Patients who get repeated skin cancers sometimes are given skin creams and pills to reduce the chance of recurrences. For more information on Northwestern's transplant skin cancer clinic, call (312) 926-8400.

Source

[Tanning Queen]

Wait... I thought TANNING caused skin cancer? Is that not true now?

[Editor-in-Chief]

Might want to add "Kreczmer" to your Medications Watch List.