EMORY'S WINSHIP CANCER CENTER OFFERS MELANOMA SCREENINGS

April 20, 1997

Media Contacts: Sarah Goodwin, 404/727-3366 - sgoodwi@emory.edu
Kathi Ovnic, 404/727-9371 - covnic@emory.edu
http://www.emory.edu/WHSC/

CALENDAR LISTING

WHAT:: Melanoma Screening
WHEN:: Wednesday, May 21, 1997
TIME:: 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.
WHERE:: Emory University Hospital Classrooms B and C
1364 Clifton Road, Atlanta, GA 30322
WHO:: The screening will be conducted by Emory Healthcare dermatologists.
It is free and open to the public.
INFORMATION:: For more information, please call 404/778-4797.

Melanoma is the most dangerous type of skin cancer. If discovered early, it can often be successfully cured. As the disease progresses, however, treatment becomes more complex and survival rates drop dramatically.

Over the past 20 years the rate of deaths from melanoma has risen an alarming 60 percent, more than any other kind of cancer. More than 40,300 new cases are expected to be diagnosed in 1997 and approximately 7,300 people will die from the disease, according to the American Cancer Society. And although the risk for many kinds of cancer increases with increasing age, the median age for patients with melanoma is in the low 40s.

Risk factors for malignant melanoma include a family or personal history of melanoma, a light complexion, multiple or abnormal moles, and a blistering sunburn early in life.

The free screening is sponsored by the Melanoma and Pigmented Lesion Center in Emory University's Winship Cancer Center and by the Department of Dermatology in Emory University School of Medicine.

For more general information on The Robert W. Woodruff Health Sciences Center, call Health Sciences News and Information at 404-727-5686, or send e-mail to hsnews@emory.edu.