Kidney transplantees face higher melanoma risk
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People who’ve undergone a kidney transplant have an increased risk of developing melanoma, according to a new report.
“There is evidence from previous studies that the immunosuppression regimen (used after a kidney transplant) affects the risk of melanoma,” Dr. Christopher S. Hollenbeak told Reuters Health. “We are currently working to identify specific regimens in the United States Renal Data System (USRDS) data in order to determine whether risk is associated with specific agents.”
Hollenbeak, from Penn State College of Medicine in Hershey, Pennsylvania, and his associates used data from the USRDS and another national database to compare the occurrence of melanoma among kidney transplant recipients with that reported in the general population.
The melanoma rate in kidney recipients was 3.6 times that in the general population, the team reports in the medical journal Cancer.
The risk was 3.8 times higher in men, 1.9 times higher in women, and more than 17 times higher in African Americans, the report indicates.
In men, but not women, the risk of melanoma increased with age, both in the transplant population and in the general population, the researchers note.
“I would hope that physicians would understand that the risk of melanoma is increased in kidney transplant recipients, particularly among men and African Americans,” Hollenbeak said. “These patients need to be educated about their risk and how to perform a self examination.”
Also, he advised, “follow-up care should be coordinated with a dermatologist and include routine skin examinations.”
SOURCE: Cancer, online September 26, 2005.
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