Lorraine L. Rosamilia, MD
Dr. Rosamilia is from the Department of Dermatology, Geisinger Health System, State College, Pennsylvania.
Dr. Rosamilia reports no conflicts of interest in relation to this post.

JAMA Dermatology (formerly Archives of Dermatology) reported a study (Arch Dermatol. 2012;148:1083-1084) on the diagnosis of pigmented lesions by dermatologists compared with the MelaFind device (Mela Sciences), a handheld light unit that produces a 3-dimensional computer image of a pigmented lesion with subsequent recommendation of “high disorganization” versus “low disorganization.”

Lorraine L. Rosamilia, MD

Dr. Rosamilia is from the Department of Dermatology, Geisinger Health System, State College, Pennsylvania.

Dr. Rosamilia reports no conflicts of interest in relation to this post.

Cancer recently reported dermatologically germane data from the Women’s Health Initiative Observational Study in which a large cohort of postmenopausal white women aged 50 to 79 years were followed by health questionnaire and clinic visits at 40 national sites over 12 years, highlighting risk factors and associations with heart disease, cancer, and fractures. In a subset of nearly 60,000 women in the study, 548 incident melanomas were confirmed, and data regarding skin type, sun exposure, skin cancer history, and medication use were analyzed.

Lorraine L. Rosamilia, MD

Dr. Rosamilia is from the Department of Dermatology, Geisinger Health System, State College, Pennsylvania.

Dr. Rosamilia reports no conflicts of interest in relation to this post.

JAMA Dermatology recently published a case-control study from the University of Pittsburgh wherein 4 smartphone applications (apps) designed to aid consumers in determining if a skin lesion is benign or malignant were put to the test. Digital images taken by dermatologists of 60 melanomas and 128 benign control lesions (prior to skin biopsy and dermatopathologist-determined diagnosis) were uploaded into these consumer apps, and there was a very broad range of diagnostic sensitivity and specificity.

Kavita Mariwalla, MD

Dr. Mariwalla is the Director of Dermatologic Surgery, Continuum Cancer Centers of New York, New York.

Dr. Mariwalla reports no conflicts of interest in relation to this post.

BMJ recently published a meta-analysis (2012;345:e5909) correlating indoor tanning use with nonmelanoma skin cancer. Although dermatologists have long known of this link, this analysis is important because it gives us concrete numbers that we can provide to our patients. The authors looked at 12 studies including 9328 cases of nonmelanoma skin cancer.

Kavita Mariwalla, MD

Dr. Mariwalla is the Director of Dermatologic Surgery, Continuum Cancer Centers of New York, New York.

Dr. Mariwalla reports no conflicts of interest in relation to this post.

A recent study in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology has attracted attention in the last few weeks. The authors studied 781,907 women in New South Wales, Australia, from 1994 to 2008 (approximately 1.3 million pregnancies) and found an increase in cancer diagnoses during pregnancy. The results showed that from 1994 to 1997 the crude incidence rate of pregnancy-associated cancer increased from 112.3 to 191.5 per 100,000 pregnancies. Because the study was conducted in Australia, of course one of the most common cancers was melanoma.

Philip R. Cohen, MD

Dr. Cohen is from the University of Houston Health Center, Texas; the Department of Dermatology, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston; and the Department of Dermatology, University of Texas Medical School, Houston.

Dr. Cohen reports no conflicts of interest in relation to this post.

The June 2012 issue of Annals of Oncology (2012;23[suppl 5]:v6-v11) featured an abstract (L6.5) from the 4th WIN (Worldwide Innovative Networking in personalized cancer medicine) symposium on the efficacy of biomarkers and personalized cancer therapy that took place in Paris, France, on June 28 and 29, 2012. The authors provided an update on using personalized medicine for the treatment of a large cohort of oncology patients with advanced cancer. Complete molecular profiling of the patient’s tumor was performed and the patient was treated with matched therapy, when available, directed against the detected molecular aberration. The results were measured as a function of time to treatment failure and supported the use of a personalized molecular approach for patients with cancer.

Kavita Mariwalla, MD

Dr. Mariwalla is the Director of Dermatologic Surgery, Continuum Cancer Centers of New York, New York.

Dr. Mariwalla reports no conflicts of interest in relation to this post.

On July 9, the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) released recommendations for the use of the sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy in patients with melanoma (Journal of Clinical Oncology). The SLN typically is the first draining lymph node to which melanoma cells are most likely to spread, and a positive node certainly has implications for staging. However, sending a patient to have this node mapped has been very inconsistent among practitioners. It also comes at a risk: an additional procedure in the operating room and the chance of possible lymphedema in the area where the node was harvested.

Philip R. Cohen, MD

Dr. Cohen is from the University of Houston Health Center, Texas; the Department of Dermatology, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston; and the Department of Dermatology, University of Texas Medical School, Houston.

Dr. Cohen reports no conflicts of interest in relation to this post.

The February 2012 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine (2012;366:707-714) featured an original article that presented the results of a multicenter phase 2 clinical trial of vemurafenib (N=132). More than 50% of patients with previously treated BRAF V600–mutant metastatic melanoma achieved vemurafenib-induced clinical responses. In addition, the investigators demonstrated that the median overall survival was approximately 16 months.

Henry W. Lim, MD

Dr. Lim is Chairman of the Department of Dermatology, Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, Michigan. Dr. Lim also is the Immediate Past Chair of the American Academy of Dermatology’s Council on Science and Research.

Dr. Lim is a consultant for Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals, La Roche-Posay Laboratoire Pharmaceutique/L’Oréal, and Procter & Gamble, and an investigator for Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals and Estée Lauder.

On June 17, 2011, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published the Final Rule on labeling and effectiveness testing of sunscreens (Fed Registr. 2011;76[117]:35620-35665). It is a major advancement for the regulation of sunscreens in the United States because for the first time the FDA specified the exact guidelines on the testing for UVA protection of sunscreens, and the labeling that is allowable on the package.