Stress and Skin Cancer

Does stress speed up the onset of skin cancer? The answer, in mice anyway, seems to be "yes." Scientists at Johns Hopkins say that chronic stress may speed up the process in those at high-risk for the disease. In a recent study, mice exposed to stressful conditions and cancer-causing ultraviolet light developed skin cancers in less than half the time it took for non-stressed mice to grow tumors. If humans respond the same way, stress-reducing activities like yoga and meditation may help those at high risk for skin cancer stay healthy longer.

"There is a lot of evidence pointing to the negative effects of chronic stress, which weakens our immune system and impacts various aspects of our health," says dermatologist Francisco Tausk, M.D. "But, to help create solid treatment strategies, we need a better understanding of the mechanisms of how stressors affect skin cancer development." Fair-skinned patients and those previously diagnosed with squamous cell skin cancer, genetic diseases or organ transplants are considered high-risk.

NEW TOOLS FOR HEALTH

A More Accurate Measure of Heart Damage

In animal studies, Hopkins researchers have effectively used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to measure with 94% accuracy the size and amount of heart muscle damaged by a heart attack. If confirmed in humans, this development could standardize how doctors currently determine the severity of a heart attack and a patient's chances for recovery.

According to cardiologist and study author Joao Lima. "Current methods for measuring the size of an infarct (heart attack) and assessing how much damage was done are highly subjective and arbitrary. A person who has suffered damage to more than 30% of the left ventricle of the heart is twice as likely to die within a year from the injury than someone who has suffered less damage, and bigger infarcts often require more aggressive drug therapy or, in the most severe cases, surgery to repair heart tissue or prevent further damage."

Dystonia: What Can Be Done?

When world-renowned pianist Leon Fleisher visited Hopkins several years ago, neurologist Daniel Drachman led him to a new program at the National Institutes of Health using botox for focal dystonia. The joy at Fleisher's two-handed comeback concert--after 30 years--was palpable.

According to Hopkins neurologist "Buz" Jinnah, M.D., it's a mistake to shrug your shoulders over patients with dystonia, a neurologic movement disorder characterized by sustained muscle contractions that produce twisting and repetitive movements or abnormal postures or positions. "We can do something for everyone. It's just a matter of degree," he says. Dr. Jinnah offers oral drugs like artane, which directly block neurotransmission to muscles, or benzodiazepines, drugs that act as overall muscle relaxants.

Patients with dystonias such as torticollis (head and neck) or blepharospasm (eyelid) respond "wonderfully" to botulinum toxin, or botox, he says. Botox or a drug-containing pump surgically implanted beneath the skin also can help patients with generalized dystonia. The pump bathes the spinal cord with the muscle relaxant baclofen.

For torticollis patients who don't respond to botox or medication, deep brain stimulation (DBS), a procedure used to treat Parkinson's, can be very effective, especially for generalized dystonia that does not respond to other treatments. Patients who are helped by the surgery, says neurosurgeon Fred Lenz, have a dramatic turnaround.
Click here to read more about Dystonias.

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