“I thought it was unfair! My life had been changed by a black spot on my skin when I was not even 50 years old yet,” a 52-year-old man surnamed Shao (邵) said.
In 2013, Shao noticed a black mole growing on the sole of his foot but did not cared too much about it at first, until he found the mole had grown into an irregular-shaped black bump about two to three centimeters in size, after several months.
Having the black bump removed by surgery and examined at a hospital, Shao was diagnosed of stage III melanoma cancer, and he had to quit the mountain climbing team that he and his friends formed, due to cancer treatment,.
Photo: The Liberity Times
Although he went through surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy, he was still faced with the risk of cancer spreading, until he finally underwent anti-PD-1 immunotherapy and gained control over the disease.
“Melanoma is the dangerous form of skin cancer, and its development often starts with a small black spot on the skin,” Taiwan National University Hospital dermatologist Chu Chia-yu (朱家瑜) said, “people should not neglect it or only try to cover it up, to avoid delayed treatment that may even increase risk of death.”
He said a case published in a UK medical journal — The Lancet — recently reported about a 42-year-old man who covered up a black spot on his back by getting a dragon tattoo, but later realized that the black spot was not a mole but the early symptom of melanoma, and there are about 16 similar cases reported in various studies.
Chang Wen-chen (張文震), a medical oncologist at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in Linkou, said malignant melanoma can develop in any cell that produce melanin, and about 250 new cases are reported in Taiwan each year, but because most of them were diagnosed at an advanced stage, they could only be treated with chemotherapy.
The therapeutic effect of chemotherapy is limited, so it is very important to discover the melanoma at an early stage, he said, adding that the risk of death increases if the melanoma spread (or metastasize) to other parts of the body.
Earlier this month, the Ministry of Health and Welfare approved an anti-PD-1 immunotherapy, called Pembrolizumab, for treating patients with advanced stage melanoma that cannot be removed with surgery in Taiwan.
Chang said studies have shown that the tumor response (tumor shrinkage) rate of the new immunotherapy was about 21 percent — about five times of traditional chemotherapy, and the disease progression risk reduced by 43% in compare to chemotherapy.
However, the example of Shao mentioned above is only an individual case, he said, adding that studies have shown while side effects from anti-PD-1 immunotherapy after going through standard treatment were fewer than traditional chemotherapy, side effects associated with the immune system may still occur, so diagnosing melanoma at an early stage is still critically important.
Chu said people who have moles or birthmarks on their body should regularly observe them to recognize any unusual changes, and especially look for the ABCDE signs of melanoma: Asymmetry, Irregular Border, Variability in Color, Diameter (larger than 6mm) and Evolving over time.
If people find one or more of the signs, they should make an appointment with a physician immediately, he said.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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