Symptoms, Treatment, And Prevention Of Skin Cancer

Skin cancer is one of the most common and well-known cancers. Although it is typically easiest to cure, there are still many cases where a form of skin cancer has no definite cure. This difficulty is common with skin cancers that are not well known, such as Kaposi’s sarcoma. KS is an unusual malignancy discovered in 1981 during the beginning of the global HIV pandemic. During this time, cases of KS were rare. According to The American Cancer Society, “there were only two cases of KS found for every million people in the United States; yet, when the AIDS epidemic arrived, the rate of KS cases rapidly increased. By the 1990’s, KS was present in 47 cases per million people, and individuals with HIV had a 50% chance of developing it.” (“What is …show more content…
Since there is currently no known cure for KS, researchers are looking for more clues to discover how to heal patients. According to “Human Herpesvirus 8 and Kaposi’s Sarcoma in Persons Infected with Human Immunodeficiency Virus”, written by John W. Gnann, Phillip E. Pellet, and Harold W. Jaffe, “ There is currently no vaccine or specific drug regimen recommended for preventing HHV-8 infection or KS” (874). Although there is no exact prevention or cure, there are ways to help calm the side effects of having KS. Fortunately doctors have a better understanding of the causes of KS and how to effectively treat patients; therefore, effects of KS can be soothed, yet not prevented, over a course of years due to current forms of treatment. Various clinical trials are being done in order to observe the effects of these new treatments. The most commonly used treatment is highly active antiretroviral therapy; this involves using a combination of medications that prevent the HIV virus from reproducing. According to “A Prognostic Index for AIDS-associated Kaposi’s Sarcoma In The Era of Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy”, it is mentioned that “In people with HIV/AIDS, the use of highly active antiretroviral therapy has reduced the incidence of opportunistic infections and decreased the incidence of HIV-associated cancers” (1495). This means that the treatment being used for (AIDS related) KS patients typically works quite well. Since there are different types of KS, there are multiple areas to focus on during treatment; subsequently, some patients undergo two different types of therapy at the same time. Sometimes multiple doctors will be needed for this in order to ensure the best results after therapy. Although there are multiple ways of easing the effects of KS, the best therapy would be prevention. One can prevent KS through lowering one’s