Incidence of Kaposi Sarcoma in Sweden is Decreasing.

Kaposi sarcoma is a rare skin cancer, and epidemiological research into Kaposi sarcoma is therefore scarce. The current epidemiological situation for Kaposi sarcoma in Sweden is unknown. The authors hypothesized that the incidence of Kaposi sarcoma should have decreased after the introduction of antiretroviral therapy in 1996.

Measurements of sun sensitivity in five European countries confirm the relative nature of Fitzpatrick skin phototype scale.

Background/purpose: Skin colour and sun sensitivity are highly related to the distance to the equator: people in southern latitudes are usually darker and less sensitive to sun than in northern latitudes. Whether differences in sun sensitivity can be found in a relatively homogenous European population is unclear. We aimed to objectively measure sun sensitivity (assessed as pigment protection factor (PPF)) in five European countries, relate it to self-assessed Fitzpatrick skin phototype (FST) and to determine whether PPF levels in the different FST categories are dependent on the investigated countries.

Visual scales are superior to questionnaires in skin phototype self-assessment by children.

Background/purpose: There are no suitable methods for skin phototype self-assessment by children. Our study investigated several skin phototype self-assessment methods in children to identify the best correlation to objectively measure skin phototype.

Methods: Danish schoolchildren (ages 6-19) participated in a nation-wide study that assessed skin, eye, hair colour and sun behaviour.

Phototype reproducibility and relation to objectively measured skin sensitivity is best when burn and tan reactivity to sun are answered separately.

Background/purpose: Skin phototype questionnaires usually ask similar questions, but they differ in how the answers can be given. There is either one combined answer, which includes both tendency to burn and ability to tan, or 2 separate answers about burn and tan, respectively. We tested the reproducibility of different questionnaires and their relation to objectively measured skin phototype.

Protoporphyrin IX formation after application of methyl aminolevulinate on the face and scalp with and without prior curettage.

Background: Pulse photodynamic therapy (PDT) is carried out as classical PDT except that methyl aminolaevulinate (MAL) is removed after 30 min. Protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) accumulation becomes lower after 3 h in pulse-PDT than in classical PDT, but pulse-PDT still has full treatment effect on actinic keratosis (AK). The present study aimed to investigate when PpIX formation in classical PDT without curettage reaches the PpIX level in pulse-PDT with curettage in the skin of the face and scalp.