For several years, skin cancer has occupied one of the first places in Cuba in terms of the locations with the highest incidence.
The province of Holguin, having a predominantly white population, is affected by this type of cancer, which reports about a thousand new cases each year at the territorial level.
Hence the usefulness and impact that the use of skin ultrasound will have as another diagnostic means available to oncologists and dermatologists in the common purpose of favoring the diagnosis and monitoring of patients with malignant skin lesions.
As Holguin imager Yamila Cruz Cruz explains, “ultrasound for skin conditions, mainly oncological, although it is a diagnostic means that is not implemented in the province of Holguin, we intend to start performing it to favor oncological diagnosis and follow-up. In this way, specialists in oncology and dermatology are helped to direct the conduct to be followed with patients with skin conditions.”
The use of ultrasonography in the detection of skin cancer has unquestionable advantages, including the examination of skin structures and underlying tissues without the need for initial biopsies, it can help to differentiate between benign and malignant lesions, by allowing the depth and structure of skin lesions to be evaluated and even favors an effective monitoring of skin lesions over time.
Which helps doctors to observe changes in size, shape or echogenicity, principles that induce the presence or absence of an oncological condition.
Among the most common types of skin cancer are basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma and melanoma, the latter being the most aggressive. All of them have as their main triggering factor the excess of sun, specifically ultraviolet radiation. For this reason, the population must gain a perception of risk and act accordingly to avoid contracting this disease.
In the event of any pigmented lesion that appears and does not heal, or moles that are modified, become asymmetrical, with irregular borders, inhomogeneous color, itch or bleed, it is advisable to go to the doctor as these are warning signs of a possible malignant transformation.
By: Maylín Betancourt Verdecia/ Translated by Radio Angulo
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