Adjuvant treatment decisions of patients with stage IIB/C and III melanoma in routine clinical practice.

The introduction of modern adjuvant therapies for melanoma has marked a paradigm shift for stage III in 2018 and stage IIB/C in 2022. However, patients' decisions sometimes deviate from the advice of physicians. This retrospective study aimed to evaluate adjuvant treatment decisions, influencing factors, and outcomes for melanoma patients with stage IIB/C and III receiving routine care at the Vivantes Skin Cancer Center, which operates across three locations in Berlin, Germany.

Real-world outcomes using PD-1 antibodies and BRAF + MEK inhibitors for adjuvant melanoma treatment from 39 skin cancer centers in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Background: Programmed death-1 (PD-1) antibodies and BRAF + MEK inhibitors are widely used for adjuvant therapy of fully resected high-risk melanoma. Little is known about treatment efficacy outside of phase III trials. This real-world study reports on clinical outcomes of modern adjuvant melanoma treatment in specialized skin cancer centers in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Patient Preferences in Hidradenitis Suppurativa (APProach-HS): a discrete choice experiment.

Background And Objectives: Treatment options for moderate-to-severe hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) comprise antibiotics, biologics, and different surgical methods. These approaches differ substantially regarding the treatment process, success rates, and adverse events. However, information on patient preferences for HS therapies is hitherto scarce.

Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on care of melanoma patients in Berlin, Germany: the Mela-COVID survey.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic imposes major challenges for care of cancer patients.

Objectives: Our aim was to assess the effects of the pandemic on treatment and appointments of patients with malignant melanoma based on a large skin cancer centre in Berlin, Germany, and identify reasons for, and impact factors associated with these changes.

Materials & Methods: Patients with melanoma treated from January 1st 2019 received a postal survey with questions on impairment due to the pandemic, fear of COVID-19, fear of melanoma, changes in therapy and/or appointments, including reasons for the changes.

Melanomversorgung während eines Jahres Pandemie in Berlin: abnehmende Terminstornierungen trotz zunehmender Besorgnis über COVID-19.

Hintergrund Und Ziele: Die COVID-19-Pandemie stellt für Krebspatienten eine große Herausforderung dar. Unser Ziel war es, ihren Einfluss auf die Behandlung und auf Arzttermine von Melanompatienten nach einem Jahr Pandemie zu untersuchen.

Patienten Und Methodik: Melanompatienten, die im Vivantes Hauttumorzentrum in Berlin behandelt wurden, beantworteten eine postalische Umfrage zu Pandemie-bedingten Änderungen ihrer Melanomversorgung.

Melanoma care during one year pandemic in Berlin: decreasing appointment cancellations despite increasing COVID-19 concern.

Background And Objectives: The COVID-19 pandemic poses a great challenge for cancer patients. Our aim was to assess its influence on treatment and appointments of melanoma patients after one year of pandemic.

Methods: Melanoma patients treated in the Vivantes Skin Cancer Centre in Berlin, Germany completed a postal survey on pandemic-related alterations in melanoma care.

Patient preferences for treatment of advanced melanoma: impact of comorbidities.

Background And Objectives: Choice of treatment for advanced melanoma is crucially influenced by comorbidities and patient preferences. Our study aimed to investigate the impact of comorbidities on preferences.

Patients And Methods: 150 patients with melanoma stage IIC-IV completed a discrete choice experiment to determine preferences for outcome (overall response rate [ORR], 2-year survival, progression-free survival [PFS], time to response [TTR], kind of adverse events [AE], AE-related treatment discontinuation) and process attributes (frequency and route of administration [RoA], frequency of consultations) of systemic melanoma treatments.

Patient Preferences in Adjuvant and Palliative Treatment of Advanced Melanoma: A Discrete Choice Experiment.

Treatment paradigms for advanced melanoma have changed fundamentally over recent years. A discrete choice experiment was performed to explore patient preferences regarding outcome (overall response rate, 2-year survival rate, progression-free survival, time to response, type of adverse events, probability of adverse event-related treatment discontinuation) and process attributes (frequency and route of administration, frequency of consultations) of modern treatments for melanoma. Mean preferences of 150 patients with melanoma stage IIC-IV were highest for overall response rate (relative importance score (RIS) 26.

Psychotrichology: psychosomatic aspects of hair diseases.

Hair growth and hair disorders with changes in hair density or quality not only influence an individual's appearance but also often lead to an enormous emotional burden with low self-confidence, impaired quality of life, and even psychological disorders. Psychosomatic hair diseases cover a wide spectrum of specific psycho-dermatological disease patterns. This review provides an overview and classification of psychosomatic hair diseases based on primary and secondary disorders.

Facticious disorders in dermatology.

Facticious Disorders are self inflicted skin lesions and includes the creation of physical or psychiatric symptoms in oneself or other reference persons. In dermatology frequently, there are mechanical injuries by pressures, friction, occlusion, biting, cutting, stabbing, thermal burns or self-inflicted infections with wound-healing impairment, abscesses, mutilations or damages by acids and other toxic to the skin. The current classification differentiates between four groups: 1.

Morgellons in dermatology.

Delusional parasitosis (DP) is the most frequent delusional disorder in dermatology. In DP there is a fixed belief of a usually skin-related invasion or infestation by a number of alleged infectious species (usually parasites and bacteria), whose identity has varied over the decades. Since 2002 worldwide an increasing number of patients have complained of unverifiable fibers and filaments in or on the skin, associated with numerous nonspecific complaints (arthralgias, altered cognitive function and extreme fatigue).

Successful treatment of pityriasis rubra pilaris (type 1) under combination of infliximab and methotrexate.

Pityriasis rubra pilaris (PRP) is often difficult to treat. A 65-year-old women presented with a two week history of widespread erythroderma and scaling with areas of sparing (nappes claires). She also had follicular hyperkeratoses and palmar fissuring.

Transplantation of chronic wounds with epidermal sheets derived from autologous hair follicles--the Leipzig experience.

Background: An increasing number of chronic wounds in our society require strategies to improve wound healing and wound closure. One of several options is skin transplantation. In this article, we focus on the transplantation of tissue engineered autologous epidermal sheets derived from outer root sheath (ORS) cells of the patients' hair.

Complete remission of cutaneous and subcutaneous melanoma metastases of the scalp with imiquimod therapy.

Multiple cutaneous and subcutaneous melanoma metastases represent a therapeutic challenge. A 63-year-old man presented with multiple cutaneous and subcutaneous melanoma metastases on his right parieto-occipital region that appeared ten weeks after surgical excision of the primary tumor. Staging showed no further metastases.

[Lifestyle drugs in medicine].

Lifestyle drugs have become an important new group of medications, which are taken by healthy people to increase the individual well-being and quality of life. Nootropics, psychopharmaceuticals, hormones and "ecodrugs" are today the main groups. The wish for eternal youth, beauty and potency is central, and lifestyle medications are also requested to influence cosmetic findings, which are usually simply a result of the natural aging process.

Psychopharmacological treatment of dermatological patients--when simply talking does not help.

In dermatology, primary emotional disorders with cutaneous manifestations, secondary emotional disorders caused by dermatoses and multifactorial diseases are possible indications for the use of psychopharmaceuticals. Neuroleptics (anti-psychotics) are usually used in psychiatric illnesses, while antidepressants are foremost in treating depression as well as obsessive-compulsive, anxiety and panic disorders. Minor tranquilizers may be used symptomatically.

Psychosomatic disturbances and cosmetic surgery.

Medical activity in recent years has experienced a marked expansion of possibilities for aesthetic surgery, usually requested by patients. Especially in dermatology, an increasing demand for and use of doctor/medical services by healthy individuals has resulted in a drastic change to cosmetic dermatology. The request for cosmetic surgery is emotionally or psychosocially motivated.

Topical tacrolimus treatment for chronic dermatitis of the ear.

Recurrent exacerbation in chronic recalcitrant external otitis (EO) often warrants multidisciplinary treatment and collaboration with a dermatologist. The aim of this pilot study was to ascertain the efficacy of topical tacrolimus ointment application in chronic, non-infectious and therapy-resistant EO. In a prospective clinical study, the efficacy of tacrolimus ointment 0.