"THE HEART OF THE MATTER"
a special program of the National Emergency Medicine Association (NEMA)

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Week: 587.2 

Guest: Dr. Margaret Tucker, National Cancer Institute 

Topic: Keep track of moles 

Host/Producer: Steve Girard 

NEMA: Avoiding melanoma...coming up... 

SPOT: The best emergency? The one that doesn’t happen. The National Emergency Medicine Association. Visit us at www.nemahealth.org. 

NEMA: A new study from the National Cancer Institute shows people who have a lot of regular moles have twice the risk of melanoma...those with a lot of regular and large moles have 4 times the risk, and folks with a lot number of large, unusual moles have a ten fold risk of getting the deadly skin cancer....Dr. Margaret Tucker authored the study...  

TUCKER: These unusual moles that we’re talking about are usually larger than the eraser on a pencil, they have a flat component, they’re irregular in outline shape, they have indistinct borders where the color fades into the surrounding skin, and they usually have multiple colors, ranging from pink to tan to dark brown, all within the same mole.  

NEMA: Dr. Tucker says knowing the risk helps fight the disease...  

TUCKER: It’s important to identify a subgroup of patients who would benefit from screening and surveillance so that we can find melanomas earlier when they are easily, surgically curable...before they attain the ability to spread.  

NEMA: I’m Steve Girard at The Heart of the Matter.