Clipping of news on Brazilian Culture, Law and Citizenship
01.06.2016
This article was translated by an automatic translation system, and was therefore not reviewed by people.
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Old, men and residents of southern Brazil are the main victims of the disease
Protection from the sun is the best weapon in the fight against skin cancer (Picture: Getty)
Protection from the sun is the best weapon in the fight against skin cancer (Getty / SEE)
So frequent in the Brazilian summer, the search for tan can hide a disturbing statistic: in ten years, the number of deaths from skin cancer increased by 55% in the country, according to a survey by the report based on data from the National Cancer Institute (Inca ).
Although it has the greatest chance of cure if caught early, skin tumor killed 3,316 Brazilians only in 2013, the last data available, an average of one death every three hours. Ten years earlier, in 2003, there were 2,140 deaths.
Experts say the aging population, the carelessness with the skin during sun exposure and improvement in disease reporting systems are the main causes of the increasing number of victims of this cancer.
"Generations have had great exposure to the sun without protection are getting older and developing the disease," says Luis Fernando Tovo, Cutaneous Oncology Department coordinator of the Brazilian Society of Dermatology (SBD).
"In addition to protection, it must take dermatological periodically. Most of the spots is not skin cancer. Those who cause a greater alert are asymmetric, with irregular edges, color variation, larger diameter, which present developments or changes "says the doctor.
It was not only in absolute numbers that mortality from skin cancer grew. Among men, the death rate per 100 thousand inhabitants rose from 1.52 to 2.24 between 2003 and 2013. Among women, the rate rose from 0.96 to 1.29 per 100,000 in the same period.
Types - Skin cancer is divided into two main types. More aggressive, and lethal, melanoma comes generally from a dark paint. The non-melanoma divided into basal and squamous cell carcinoma, often appear in the form of lesions that do not heal.
Melanoma is what yields more concern because it is more likely to cause metastasis. It accounts for only 5% of cases of skin cancer, but corresponds for 46% of deaths.
"While melanomas are more aggressive, non-melanomas rarely kill. They have a local destruction power, but hardly produce metastasis. Patients who die of this tumor type usually have an injury and leave there, do not treat and passes 20, 30 years and then can reach important organs such as the lung, liver and brain, and can cause death, "says Dolival Boden, Head of the Inca Dermatology Service.
The Institute statistics show that older men and residents of southern Brazil are the main victims of skin cancer. Of all deaths in 2013, 57% were men and 72% were over 60 years. In the South, the mortality rate in the year before was almost double that recorded in Brazil.
Detection - According to experts, even the melanoma has more than 90% chance of cure when diagnosed early. Chemical engineer Ivana Tacchi, 52, is an example of the search for an expert can quickly be crucial. Last year, she withdrew three melanomas at an early stage and is cured.
"I took a lot of sun in adolescence. When I lived in São Paulo and wanted to catch up the sun on vacation. How am very bright white, was the situation of a beach day and three days at home with burns and blisters," he says.
Experts say skin cancer may appear on either the cumulative exposure over a lifetime as by episodes of burns. So it is important to use sunscreen every day.
The most recommended treatment for most of skin cancers is surgical removal of the tumor. For some types of tumors in areas like the face, whose removal would cause cosmetic damage, an innovative treatment has been proven effective. "In photodynamic therapy, we apply a cream on the spot and then throw a light. Only the cancer cells that absorb cream. They die intoxicated and managed to preserve the surrounding tissue," said Lobao. "It only serves to nonmelanoma types, more superficial," he says.
Source: View
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This article was translated by an automatic translation system, and was therefore not reviewed by people.