Product Description
In March 2001, the National Institutes of Health issued the following warning: "The number of Web sites offering health-related resources grows every day. Many sites provide valuable information, while others may have information that is unreliable or misleading."Furthermore, because of the rapid increase in Internet-based information, many hours can be wasted searching, selecting, and printing.This book was created for medical professionals, students, and members of the general public who want to conduct medical research using the most advanced tools available and spending the least amount of time doing so. ... Read more

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1993, Kluwer Academic. Winthrop University Hospital, Mineola, New York. Cancer Treatment and Research, Volume 65. Melanoma research and clinical management for practitioners and investigators. Topics include etiology, epidemiology, prevention, molecular genetics, surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy. ... Read more

Product Description
In the last decade there has been no major clinical mono-graph on this increasingly common and difficult malignancywhich is a killer of young people. The gap in the literatureis now filled by this authoritative volumewhich will beessential reading for any body involved in the studyormanagement of melanoma. ... Read more

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In Melanoma Techniques and Protocols: Molecular Diagnosis, Treatment, and Monitoring, a broadly diverse group of researchers and clinicians offer not only reviews of the most important recent advances in melanoma oncology, tumor immunology, and pathology, but also state-of-the-art molecular techniques for probing its basic biology. These readily reproducible methods can be used to develop new diagnostic approaches, therapeutics, and status monitoring of patients suffering both early- and late-stage melanoma. With emphasis on the experimental details critical to experimental success, each method is described in step-by-step fahion by hands-on masters, often those who have developed hem in their own laboratories. Comprehensive and highly instructive, Melanoma Techniques and Protocols: Molecular Diagnosis, Treatment, and Monitoring offers both clinicians and basic scientists concerned with malignant melanoma both new clinical perspectives and the wide ranging experimental protocols essential for achieving more rapidbreakthroughs in this near-epidemic disease.
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This digital document is an article from Internal Medicine News, published by Thomson Gale on October 1, 2006. The length of the article is 649 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Melanoma care varies by region, hospital type.(Dermatology)(Report)
Author: Jane Salodof MacNeil
Publication: Internal Medicine News (Magazine/Journal)
Date: October 1, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 39Issue: 19Page: 12(1)

Article Type: Report

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Product Description
Uveal melanoma is the most common intraocular malignancy in adults, yet little is known about the factors that predispose patients to develop the disease. However, the availability of several uveal melanoma cell lines has fostered novel in vitro and in vivo studies that have added to our knowledge about the immunology, genetics, and molecular biology of uveal melanoma, revealing, for instance, that that uveal melanoma and cutaneous melanoma are remarkably different diseases.

Presenting this important research into the area, Uveal Melanoma summarizes developments regarding the biology and metastasis of the disease, and provides insight into the pathobiology of this type of melanoma, as well as a discussion of the necessary expansion of treatment options - thus shedding new light on what is undoubtedly a highly significant area of study. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Biology of a Cure?
Why do some small and unremarkable primary uveal melanomas metastasize while larger, more invasive eye tumors do not?

What factors cause an existing choroidal nevus to transform into a choroidal melanoma? And how are those factors different from or similar to the ones that cause uveal melanomas to arise de novo (new)?

How on earth is it possible that the rates of incidence (the number of people diagnosed) and mortality (number of people dying) for uveal melanoma remain eerily unchanged for decades despite diagnosing and treatment advances?

Just what is uveal melanoma? More importantly, how do we successfully treat this rare and puzzling cancer?

This book does not answer any of these questions. So far, much of theresearch on uveal melanoma chromosomes, molecules and proteins has only confirmed long-standing clinical observations that tumor pigmentation, diameter, blood vessel morphology, cell type, race, and eye color influences its prevalence, progression and prognosis.

In other words, all this cellular research has merely affirmed on a genetic level what was already known on a clinical level.

Real progress will only be achieved when this genetic research is translated into improved patient outcomes - progress which appears decades away from reality.

If, as one of the authors argues, that uveal melanoma is "an excellent model for the study of cancer biology in general," than a more multi-disciplinary and-faceted approach is warranted. That kind of support is not only going to come from the lab but also from the larger community of medical professionals and their patients.

This was a fascinating book which ironically proves that research alone will not lead us to see a cure.
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Customer Reviews (1)

Eye Cancer Visionaries
This fascinating little volume (only 121 pages), documents a symposium held to honor Dr. Manschot, the 1979 recipient of the Snellen Medal, the Netherlands's award in ophthalmology.

In 12 short papers, uveal melanoma researchers such as Oosterhuis, Zimmerman and McLean, Manschot and van Peperzeel, among others, discuss clinical versus histopathological diagnosis, tumor doubling rates, natural history cases, treatment modalities (enucleation v. radiation), metastatic disease and mortality rates, proposing theories confirmed by the Collaborative Ocular Melanoma Study (COMS), more than 20 years later.

What all these ocular oncologists have in common - despite their differences of opinion - are their incredible powers of observation and analysis and bold argumentation in challenging the assumptions about the causes of and treatment for uveal melanoma (also called choroidal melanoma, eye cancer, eye melanoma, ocular melanoma, intraocular melanoma or eye cancer).

Zimmerman's radical thesis, later disproved, that enucleation caused dissemination of metastatic disease, nonetheless forced a change in the standard of care from enucleation to globe-sparing plaque therapy.

Manschot's powerful argument about the risks of tumor doubling times on both primary and secondary disease progression, led to earlier diagnosis of suspicious lesions and research toward chromosomes and prognostic molecular testing.

These visionaries not only anticipated the COMS results, but also the revolution in molecular biology. That invaluable historical perspective keeps this 30-year old book relevant today. And their broad, well-read and multidisciplinary perspective, has inspired current clinicians such as J.W. Harbour, C.L and J. Shields, Dan Albert, Hans Grossniklaus and Bruce Ksander among many others who will help us see the next revolution in uveal melanoma.
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Product Description
This book has been created for patients who have decided to make education and research an integral part of the treatment process. Although it also gives information useful to doctors, caregivers and other health professionals, it tells patients where and how to look for information covering virtually all topics related to intraocular melanoma (also eye cancer; Eye tumor; Malignant melanoma choroid; Malignant melanoma eye; Ocular melanoma), from the essentials to the most advanced areas of research. The title of this book includes the word official. This reflects the fact that the sourcebook draws from public, academic, government, and peer-reviewed research. Selected readings from various agencies are reproduced to give you some of the latest official information available to date on intraocular melanoma. Given patients' increasing sophistication in using the Internet, abundant references to reliable Internet-based resources are provided throughout this sourcebook. Where possible, guidance is provided on how to obtain free-of-charge, primary research results as well as more detailed information via the Internet. E-book and electronic versions of this sourcebook are fully interactive with each of the Internet sites mentioned (clicking on a hyperlink automatically opens your browser to the site indicated). Hard-copy users of this sourcebook can type cited Web addresses directly into their browsers to obtain access to the corresponding sites. In addition to extensive references accessible via the Internet, chapters include glossaries of technical or uncommon terms. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Visually Impaired
Medical resources for the patient need to meet three criteria. They must be affordable, accessible and accurate. This so-called "official patient sourcebook" on intraocular melanoma fails all three criteria and deserves a zero rating.

Affordability: This soft-cover, less than 200-page, widely-spaced manual is overpriced. At a minimum, it should have come with a CD-ROM.

Accessibility: Means easy access. Most of the URLs exceed 100 characters. There are no eye graphics, comparison charts or images of the different types of eye cancer. Many of the references the authors cite, such as Ophthalmology and Archives of Ophthalmology are subscription-only access. The authors have largely cribbed the language of the ocular specialists without translating it into a patient's vocabulary or perspective.

Accuracy: This manual is a shockingly ignorant and inaccurate work. Their most alarming mistake is to constantly compare eye melanoma to skin melanoma. According to ocular oncology pathologist Daniel Albert, "There is a common misconception that ocular melanoma and skin melanoma are essentially the same disease. This is not the case. The two differ in their systemic symptoms, metastatic patterns, and susceptibility to treatment."

Bottom line: this is an amateur and dangerously misleading work. Intraocular melanoma, particularly the common choroidal version, is a cancer that threatens both a patient's sight and life. Skip this book and simply type "choroidal melanoma, eye cancer, eye melanoma, uveal melanoma, intraocular melanoma or ocular melanoma" into any one of the various search engines. Or check out the patient-advocacy organization of seeacure.com for affordable, accessible and accurate information.
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Product Description
Significant progress has been made in recent years inunderstanding the origins of cutaneous maligant melanoma. Knowledge ofthe relationship between solar radiation and melanoma has changed anditnow appears that both the character and timing of exposure may bemore important than total cumulative dose in accounting for risk. Themelanoma-sunlight model may prove an instructive heuristic exercisefor environmental epidemiology, as we currently tend to restrictourselves to a search for uniform total dose--response relationshipsbetween cancers and suspected environmental carcinogens.
The study of the relationship between acquired melanocytic nevi andmelanoma has led to useful new information about predictors ofmelanoma risk, and in addition has opened new perspectives on thedevelopment of nevi in children. Definition of the factors for nevusdevelopment in children may lead to the possibility of primaryprevention programs for melanoma in younger generations of children.
Recent new evidence suggests that certain occupational groups may beat elevated risk of melanoma. A great deal of work is going into thestudy of ways of screening high risk populations in order to detectmelanoma at its earliest stages when current treatment protocols aremost effective. The visibility of lesions on the skin challengesclassical definitions of early detection and screening inepidemiology.
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