Dangerous black skin cancer

Black skin cancer: Celia von Bismarck dies at the age of 39 as a result of cancer melanoma.

20.12.2010

With the death of the only 39-year-old Celia from Bismarck last weekend, the issue of skin cancer in Germany has become a little more in the public eye. Black skin cancer (malignant melanoma) is one of the most dangerous cancers, since the metastases begin to spread at an early stage of the disease and so often cause cancer in other organs.

The political advisor Celia von Bismarck went to the doctor about two months ago with a stomachache. There she was diagnosed with black skin cancer with metastases in the abdomen. She died now because of pancreatic cancer (pancreatic cancer), which ends particularly often fatal. The average survival rates for pancreatic cancer are only 10 to 15 percent according to experts. The reason for the various cancer diseases of the young policy advisor was the black skin cancer from which the metastases have spread into the lymphatic system and into the blood vessels and thus reached the other internal organs.

Typical course of disease in black skin cancer
The course of the disease corresponds in a certain way to the typical development in black skin cancer. Thus, malignant melanoma is known to spread metastases in the body at an early stage of the disease. Patients do not die directly from the skin cancer, but from a cancer of other organs, which is caused by the spread of metastases. Black skin cancer (malignant melanoma) is by far the most dangerous skin cancer variant and the most frequently fatal skin disease worldwide. When the metastases begin to spread, around 90 percent of patients die within five years.

UV radiation - the main risk factors for skin cancer
Excessive solar radiation is one of the most important risk factors for black skin cancer, with the ultraviolet components (UV) in particular causing damage to the skin. Intense sunbathing in the open air, but above all the use of sunbeds, should therefore be treated with caution, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Thus, the WHO as well as the German Commission on Radiation Protection rejects the cosmetic tanning and advises against general abandonment. By nature, according to the experts from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), red-haired people with fair skin are more at risk. The risk of skin cancer is statistically five times higher than that of black-haired people, so they should protect themselves from the sun, according to the recommendation of the DKFZ. As the risk of individual skin cancer increases with each sunburn, people who have suffered many sunburns as children or adolescents are at particular risk, according to the warning of the German Cancer Research Center. „After a sunburn, the skin is superficially recovering. The resulting damage, however, burned in, so to speak, which often with the sentence ´the skin does not forget anything´ is expressed. Only after years to decades do the effects of solar irradiation become apparent“, This is the explanation given by the DKFZ.

Black skin cancer is increasing worldwide
Worldwide, the number of black skin cancer diseases has greatly increased in recent years. In Germany, although the number of new cases is still relatively low, with more than 16,000 people, in Europe we are protected from the dangerous UV radiation of the sun by the relatively intact ozone layer. For example, the situation is different in Australia and New Zealand, where the ozone layer is too thin to absorb UV radiation before it reaches Earth. In Australia, the proportion of patients with black skin cancer in the total population exceeds the global average 13-fold. According to WHO statistics, the highest disease risk in the world is achieved in Auckland (New Zealand).

Early diagnosis especially important
Even though around 200 skin cancer patients worldwide are being treated with the new drug PLX 4032 and the first results of the clinical tests indicate that the patient's life can be prolonged and in a few cases even cured, the drug has so far no really effective drug approved for the malignant melanoma in the market. Therefore, the earliest possible diagnosis is even more important. Striking pigmentation marks should definitely be kept in mind and if changes are made, it is important to consult a dermatologist. As a guide to assessing whether it is normal pigmentation or dangerous black skin cancer, the so-called ABCDE rule can serve. A stands for asymmetry (time is not round or oval), B for limitation (blurred, irregular edge), C for color (skin color is multicolored), D for diameter (greater than five millimeters) and E for sublimity / development (skin color is newly created and slightly raised on otherwise flat ground). Anyone who has discovered pigmented spots with the mentioned characteristics should contact a dermatologist immediately. Because with black skin cancer, the physicians have only little time to react to prevent the spread of metastases. (Fp)