WCCS/EADO 2016 | Why the incidence of skin cancer increased in Central Europe and preventative measures

Petr Arenberger, MD, PhD, DSc, MBA of Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic discusses skin cancer in Central Europe at the 2016 World Congress on Cancers of the Skin (WCCS) and the Congress of the European Association of Dermato-Oncology (EADO) in Vienna, Austria. It is more common now for people to go on holiday in sunny countries and there is an eight-fold increase in malignant melanoma since 1970. Prof. Arenberger discusses how in the Czech Republic, there is registry for skin cancer driven by the state, which means the data is reliable. He further discusses preventive mesaures such as Euromelanoma Day and their own initiatve called Anti-Melanoma Tent, where they travel to big cities and examine patients. This intiative is well covered by the media, which means that the public is well aware of skin cancer. According to Prof. Arenberger, the success of the initiative is also reflected in the trend that patients with malignant melanoma now come to see a dermatologist earlier.