 |
 |
Hi: I just had a smalll mole-like thing taken off m neck, it was basal cell carcinoma. Now, suddenly I find dozens of small itchy red patches across my shoulders and middle back. I havw had two previous bumps taken off that were also cancerous. Should I be worried, my doctor doesn't seem to be.I'm also getting severe back pain. Comments invited. William M. (Bill) Harrington On Fri, 15 Jan 1999, J. R. Bruman wrote: > Levodopa/Melanoma (Closure) > Today at the library I dug up 3 more of the references cited in > Kathrynne Holden's PubMed search (10 Jan 99): > > Lieberman A, Shupack J; Neur 1974: > Combining 3 of their own cases with 2 reported by others, they > summarize recurrence of melanoma in 4 of them, within a few weeks > or months after beginning levodopa treatment for PD. The quickest > onset (3 weeks) was in a patient getting only 1000mg/day of > levodopa. The other 3 patients were getting 2000, 3600, or 4500 > mg/day of levodopa. Authors' diffident suggestion that it might > be wise to monitor such patients evidently prompted inclusion of > the notice in the PDR (My post 12 Jan 99). > > Fermaglich J, Delaney P, and reply; Sober A; JAMA 1979: > They agree that no firm causal link between levodopa and melanoma > is known, but for the sake of caution anyway, maybe substitution > in patients with melanoma and PD of an agonist, such as > bromocriptine, rather than levodopa, might be wise. Neither side > sounds especially confident of their position. > > Rampen F and reply: Pfutzner W, Przybilla B; J Am Acad Derm 1998: > Rampen pulls no punches: Studying the moles of PD patients on > levodopa is a waste of time and money. The rather weak reply is > that not all melanomas are related to sun exposure, and a > relation to levodopa cannot be ruled out, since no carefully > conducted and analyzed epidemiological study has been done. > > CONCLUSION: It certainly doesn't hurt to watch your melanoma for > signs of change, whether you're a PD patient getting levodopa or > not. But if you never had a melanoma, you probably needn't worry > about getting one from levodopa alone. Of course, future research > may show otherwise, but for now... > Cheers, > Joe > -- > J. R. Bruman (818) 789-3694 > 3527 Cody Road > Sherman Oaks, CA 91403-5013 >