Malignant Melanoma Risk 4-Fold Higher in Parkinson's

The Connection Between Parkinson's Disease And Melanoma

By Howard Moore,April 2, 2015:00 a.m.

One out of four people will get some form of Cancer in their lifetime. That's bad odds. 25%.One out of five people will get Melanoma in their lifetime. 20% but I don't like those odds any better.If you have Parkinson's it's even worse because there is a connection between PD and Melanoma.It's pretty simple. One of the issues with Parkinson's is vitamin deficiencies. It increases your chances of getting Melanoma. Told you it was pretty simple.

And yet until recently, I didn't know of a single case of a Parkinson's patient having Melanoma.Then it got personal.A few months ago I started researching this topic. I thought it would be interesting to write about. I found a lot of gross photos but not a lot of info. The topic went on the back burner.On Valentine's Day, I noticed this mark on the top of my back. It looked exactly like the picture up above.  I'm pretty sure my first words were "Oh shit, I've got Melanoma". Maybe it was a little stronger.

I was very lucky. Because of the research, I'd seen enough pictures of this to know what was happening. Yeah, I was scared but the knowledge helped.I was also lucky to even see it. It's in a spot where you almost need to be Linda Blair, spinning her head in The Exorcist, to find it.

The next step was to do something about it. I found four people that I knew had dealt with Melanoma and started asking questions. Their answers were pretty much the same.Find out what stage you're in. Ask about further tests. Is chemo needed? What about lymph nodes? How will it get removed? What about follow-ups?

It's a lot to deal with. Your head is spinning but you need to know these things. It helps to have people you can ask about these things. It also helps to have someone go with you to make sure you keep on task and get the answers you need. Thanks to all these folks...very much appreciated!

Like I said earlier, I was very lucky. The Melanoma was microscopic. Less than Stage 1. It's still Cancer and it still needs to come out. That will happen next week.My surgeon says it's a simple surgical procedure. I think a simple procedure is when it happens to someone else. But two hours and I'll be Cancer-free.

So the question is was there a connection between my Parkinson's and the Melanoma? I don't know and the surgeon didn't know either. He did think it was possible. He also thought it was bizarre I was working on a story about this when it happened.

I do, too. Truth is stranger than fiction. Cue the Twilight Zone music.

http://www.chicagonow.com/hippy-shakes/2015/04/the-connection-between-parkinsons-disease-and-melanoma/

PLEASE With the weather getting warmer remember   SUNSCREEN 

Malignant Melanoma Risk 4-Fold Higher in Parkinson's

Megan Brooks.June 25, 2013

SYDNEY, Australia — A new study suggests that patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) have about a 4-fold increased risk for development of malignant melanoma, underscoring the importance of dermatologic screening in PD, the researchers say Radu Constantinescu, MD, from the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York, presented the study here June 18 at the Movement Disorder Society (MDS) 17th International Congress of Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders.

Prior studies have shown that the overall risk for cancer in patients with PD is lower but the risk for malignant melanoma is higher compared with the general population. The latter was observed by Dr. Constantinescu and colleagues in the Deprenyl and Tocopherol Antioxidative Therapy of Parkinsonism (DATATOP) trial (Mov Disord. 2007;22:720-722).

In their latest study, they looked at the risk for malignant melanoma in 1741 patients with early, treated PD enrolled in the National Institutes of Health Exploratory Trials in PD Long-term Study-1 (NET-PD-LS-1).

During 6763 person-years of follow-up, there were 13 cases of malignant melanoma in the patients with PD compared with 3.79 cases expected in the general population.

The standard event ratio for malignant melanoma in the NET-PD-LS-1 population was 3.4 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.8 - 5.9), the researchers say.

"Although more than 20 years have passed and the general awareness in regard to malignant melanoma in PD has increased, the risk observed in the NET-PD-LS-1 study is similar to the one seen in the DATATOP population," the authors say.

This study "documents an approximately 4-fold higher risk of developing melanoma in PD subjects, comparable to what was observed almost 20 years ago in the DATATOP trial," MDS president-elect Matthew Stern, MD, Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders Center, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, who wasn't involved in the study, said in a conference statement.

Lisa Cannon-Albright, PhD, from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, who reviewed the data for Medscape Medical News, said it "does look like yet another confirmation" of the association between melanoma and PD. "I don't see anything new here," she added.

As reported recently by Medscape Medical News, Dr. Cannon-Albright and colleagues uncovered a novel association between PD and prostate cancer and confirmed the association with melanoma in an analysis of the Utah Population Database.

Dr. Stern said the new study "underscores the importance for dermatologic screening in PD patients. Further, elucidating the relationship between PD and melanoma may shed light on the pathogenesis of both disorders," he added.

The authors, Dr. Stern, and Dr. Cannon-Albright have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.

Movement Disorder Society (MDS) 17th International Congress of Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders. Abstract 404. Presented June 18, 2013.