The more severe a person's sleep apnea is, the more aggressive their melanoma is

Sep 9, 2013 19:41 GMT  ·  By

Researchers speaking at today's meeting of the European Respiratory Society maintain that there is a link between the severity of one's sleep apnea and the aggressiveness of malignant skin melanoma.

More precisely, the scientists claim that, the more severe a person's sleep apnea is, the more aggressive the melanoma they have been diagnosed with is.

After looking into the health record of 56 melanoma patients, 75% of which were suffering with sleep apnea, the researchers found that an increase in the skin cancer's aggressiveness went hand in hand with an increase in the severity of their sleep apnea.

EurekAlert tells us that, as far as the researchers can tell, sleep apnea fosters more aggressive forms of skin cancer due to the fact that this medical condition is linked to reduced blood oxygen levels.

This drop in one's blood oxygen levels during nighttime is believed to make it easier for tumors to grow and spread to other regions of the body, the same source details.

As previously reported, melanoma is presently considered one of the deadliest forms of skin cancer. This is because it spreads fairly quickly, and it is difficult to treat.

Provided that sleep apnea does in fact serve as an indicator for just how aggressive malignant skin melanoma will get, doctors would be better informed and would therefore be able to present their patients with better treatment options.

“This is the first study in a human sample to show that sleep apnoea can worsen the outcomes of melanoma,” researcher Dr. Francisco Campos-Rodriguez says.

“The findings are from a preliminary small sample, but if the results are confirmed in larger studies, this would have important clinical implications, particularly as sleep apnoea can be easily treated and this could open up new therapeutic possibilities for people with both conditions,” he adds.

Presently, the researchers wish to further analyze the link between sleep apnea and melanoma in 450 patients. Since this second investigation involves significantly more volunteers, they expect it will help shed more light on the matter at hand.