Kay
01-15-2009, 05:42 AM
According to pathology expert Dr. George Hollenberg, "Melanoma cocktail" identifies cancer's spread faster and more accurately. This press release comes from New York.
Plainview, NY (PRWEB) January 12, 2009 -- Melanoma, or deadly skin cancer, is fast becoming one of the most common cancers in the United States, with the rate of diagnosis growing more quickly than that for any other type of cancer, according to the Oncology Resource Center. In fact, the rate of melanoma diagnoses is increasing so fast that the Center estimates that one of every 63 Americans will be diagnosed with melanoma at some point in their lifetimes.
Today, melanoma is the sixth most common cancer among American men and the seventh among U.S. women. While most people are diagnosed between ages 45 and 55, a quarter of all cases occur earlier than that, according to a report of the Melanoma Center, which cites melanoma as the second most common cancer in women between the ages of 20 and 35, and the leading cause of cancer death in women ages 25 to 30.
The good news for those fighting skin cancers is that the mortality rate for this disease has remained stable during the past decade and the five-year survival rate among patients with melanoma has been increasing, according to the American Cancer Society. "One of the reasons for this positive change is our ability to detect metastasis, or spreading of the disease, faster and more accurately than ever before," says Dr. George Hollenberg, M.D., a leading NY-area pathologist and founder of Acupath Laboratories.
"Using new techniques and technologies, we can more quickly diagnose and "stage" melanoma, or determine the cancer's stage. We can also improve quality of life issues for patients by reducing the number of invasive surgical procedures and recoveries they must endure to achieve a proper diagnosis, and by providing critical prognosis information up to a week or two sooner," Dr. Hollenberg says.
Acupath uses the "MCW Melanoma Cocktail," developed by researchers at the University of Wisconsin, which mixes together several antibodies that can detect melanoma cells in the lymph nodes. When applied to slides containing tissue from the patient's sentinel lymph nodes, this mixture can detect cancer cells within 30 minutes. Using routine protocol, this process can take 24-48 hours, and if the result is positive, a second surgery to remove the surrounding nodes for study must be scheduled after the patient has recovered from the first procedure, with results available in 2-3 days.
"Surgeons and pathologists can now determine in the operating room during a patient's first surgery whether the sentinel nodes show sign of metastasis," Dr. Hollenbeck explains. "If so, the remaining nodes can be removed during that same surgical procedure, eliminating the second invasive surgery entirely."
Read more (http://www.prweb.com/releases/2009/01/prweb1841214.htm)
Plainview, NY (PRWEB) January 12, 2009 -- Melanoma, or deadly skin cancer, is fast becoming one of the most common cancers in the United States, with the rate of diagnosis growing more quickly than that for any other type of cancer, according to the Oncology Resource Center. In fact, the rate of melanoma diagnoses is increasing so fast that the Center estimates that one of every 63 Americans will be diagnosed with melanoma at some point in their lifetimes.
Today, melanoma is the sixth most common cancer among American men and the seventh among U.S. women. While most people are diagnosed between ages 45 and 55, a quarter of all cases occur earlier than that, according to a report of the Melanoma Center, which cites melanoma as the second most common cancer in women between the ages of 20 and 35, and the leading cause of cancer death in women ages 25 to 30.
The good news for those fighting skin cancers is that the mortality rate for this disease has remained stable during the past decade and the five-year survival rate among patients with melanoma has been increasing, according to the American Cancer Society. "One of the reasons for this positive change is our ability to detect metastasis, or spreading of the disease, faster and more accurately than ever before," says Dr. George Hollenberg, M.D., a leading NY-area pathologist and founder of Acupath Laboratories.
"Using new techniques and technologies, we can more quickly diagnose and "stage" melanoma, or determine the cancer's stage. We can also improve quality of life issues for patients by reducing the number of invasive surgical procedures and recoveries they must endure to achieve a proper diagnosis, and by providing critical prognosis information up to a week or two sooner," Dr. Hollenberg says.
Acupath uses the "MCW Melanoma Cocktail," developed by researchers at the University of Wisconsin, which mixes together several antibodies that can detect melanoma cells in the lymph nodes. When applied to slides containing tissue from the patient's sentinel lymph nodes, this mixture can detect cancer cells within 30 minutes. Using routine protocol, this process can take 24-48 hours, and if the result is positive, a second surgery to remove the surrounding nodes for study must be scheduled after the patient has recovered from the first procedure, with results available in 2-3 days.
"Surgeons and pathologists can now determine in the operating room during a patient's first surgery whether the sentinel nodes show sign of metastasis," Dr. Hollenbeck explains. "If so, the remaining nodes can be removed during that same surgical procedure, eliminating the second invasive surgery entirely."
Read more (http://www.prweb.com/releases/2009/01/prweb1841214.htm)