Skin cancer increased significantly

Skin cancer increased significantly

30.12.2014

The number of patients treated in Lower Saxony for skin cancer in a clinic has increased significantly. Worrying is that the free skin cancer screening will be little used, it is said by the Techniker Krankenkasse (TK).

Free skin cancer screening is rarely used
The clinics in Lower Saxony must increasingly treat patients with skin cancer, reports the news agency dpa. In 2012, more than 7,700 people were hospitalized with this diagnosis. That was about 18 percent more than five years earlier, as the Techniker Krankenkasse (TK) announced on Monday, citing data from the Federal Statistical Office. The director of the TK-Landesvertretung Niedersachsen, Inken Holldorf, said that in view of this development, it was worrying that the free skin cancer screening would be of little use. According to an analysis of telecommunications data, last year only 19 percent of people over the age of 35 had made use of the offer nationwide.

Cash registers pay for early detection screening
Since July 1, 2008, insured persons in Germany from the age of 35 have been entitled to a screening test every two years, which the health insurance funds pay. As reported by several media a few months ago, doctors diagnose skin cancer annually in more than 230,000 people nationwide, including 200,000 „white“ Skin cancer (spinal or basal cell carcinoma) and the rest „black“ Skin cancer (malignant melanoma). Skin cancer is the most common type of tumor among young women in Germany, even though hardly any cancer can be avoided by prevention as well as has been shown in various studies. (Ad)

Picture: Joerg Trampert