New Treatment for Ocular Melanoma

Ok been a few years. The interface has definitely improved since I last posted anything here that's for sure. I hope to improve my posting frequency in 2009. Won't be too hard to beat 2008. I've already just done that.

There's a possible new treatment for ocular melanoma (melanoma in the eyes!) called percutaneous hepatic perfusion and if approved by the FDA could be available in 2010. Supposed to have minimal side effects.

From WJZ TV 13 in Baltimore:

The fast-growing cancer needed an aggressive treatment. Dr. Richard Alexander of the University of Maryland Medical Center chose to bombard Larry's liver with chemotherapy.

"Essentially just flood the liver with a dose of chemo that you could not possibly tolerate if you had to give it intravenously," he said.

The experimental treatment targets the liver with a dose of chemo that's 10 times stronger than usual. Doctors then filter the drug out of the blood.

"We sent it through a filtration system outside of the patient and give it back to the patient without chemotherapy in it, so this really avoids the unnecessary side effects and toxicity of the chemo distributed to the rest of the body," Alexander said.

A pilot study revealed significant regression of cancer in more than half of patients treated. Larry is hopeful after having three of the four required treatments.

"They told me 70% of my cancer was gone," he said. "I got a 17-year-old daughter and a 13-year-old son and me and the man upstairs have talked about it and I'm going to see my children graduate from college."

Tanning salons exposed

My local 7News in Denver visited 9 area tanning salons with hidden cameras and got back some questionable information from owners and employees.

I think this is my favorite quote from one of the clerks at a salon regarding tanning:

"You need to have it to live."

Would probably be funny if so many people didn't believe it (or *want* to believe it) when going to tanning salons. People can do what they want obviously but they really should be aware of the risks and not expect an unbiased opinion from the employees at a tanning salon.

Excerpts from the 7News online article:

In an undercover investigation, 7NEWS Investigators found that tanning salons are not only targeting young women, but some are not telling the truth about the dangers of lying in the beds.

7NEWS Investigators took a hidden camera into area tanning salons and found that some clerks made sales pitches that sound like spending time on a tanning bed is absolutely safe and can actually provide essential health benefits.

Never did the clerks mention the dangers of skin cancer.

"Tanning is completely natural," a tanning clerk said. "You need to have it to live."

"The UVA is going to be safer, just because it's not the burning ray," another clerk said.

"They are all safe. It's all under a controlled environment," a third clerk said.

The sales pitches said tanning indoors is a great thing for someone's body with little risk to his or her health.

"If people frequent tanning salons, they're putting themselves at risk for tremendous UV exposure, which leads to skin cancer and has been proven to lead to skin cancer," said Denver dermatologist Dr. Joel Cohen.

Cohen chairs the education committee for a national surgeons group. He deals with skin cancer and its devastating effects.

"There are decades of research showing that UVB is associated with the formation of skin cancer," Cohen said. "There are newer studies showing that UVA is definitely involved with the formation of melanoma and basal cell carcinoma. And the two in combination is much more damaging."

Extreme Makeover episode airs 11/19

I mentioned this back in September. ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" recently built a new home for a Wisconsin family who lost their father to melanoma. The episode airs 11/19.

Tiffany's Melanoma Foundation Blog: Family of melanoma patient featured on "Extreme Makeover"