The Health News Australia December 3 2017
- The nation’s most senior dermatologists are calling for urgent action to help Australians at high risk of melanoma to pay for so-called “mole-mapping” photography, saying it will save lives. Melanoma surveillance photography, including total body photography and digital dermoscopy are commonly known as mole mapping, and dermatologists say it is a vital tool for the early detection of melanoma.
- Women are being urged to take part in an updated national screening program that promises to protect millions from cervical cancer. Women now only have to undergo the new test every 5 years – no longer needing to have a pap smear every 2 years. Launched on December 1, the new test will for the first time screen for HPV. Cervical cancer is caused by sexually acquired infection with certain types of HPV. Two HPV types – 16 and 18– cause 70% of cervical cancers and precancerous cervical lesions.
- A new law in SA would allow children born from donated sperm to track down their fathers without their consent. Health Minister Peter Malinauskas is pushing for a “donor conception register” to be set up with the controversial laws that are set to be introduced in Parliament following the state election in March. The legislation would see South Australians born through assisted reproductive technology (ART) able find out who their biological father is, regardless of whether the donor wants to be identified or not.
News on Health Professional Radio. Today is the 3rd of December 2017. Read by Tabetha Moreto.
The nation’s most senior dermatologists are calling for urgent action to help Australians at high risk of melanoma to pay for so-called “mole-mapping” photography, saying it will save lives.
Melanoma surveillance photography, including total body photography and digital dermoscopy are commonly known as mole mapping, and dermatologists say it is a vital tool for the early detection of melanoma. There is currently no Medicare rebate for mole mapping, and with prices ranging from two hundred fifty dollars to four hundred fifty dollars, it is beyond the reach of many, especially high-risk patients who may need to have their photographs updated every year.
Many experts say total body photography saves both lives and money as it helps doctors detect deadly melanomas earlier, reducing the need for invasive surgery and expensive cancer treatments. The director of the Victorian Melanoma Service at Melbourne’s Alfred Hospital, Professor John Kelly, said financial help for patients who needed mole-mapping photography was “absolutely vital”.
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There is currently no formal screening program for skin cancer in Australia, unlike other cancers such as bowel, breast and cervical cancers. Leading dermatologists from the Australasian College of Dermatologists last week applied to the Medical Services Advisory Committee (MSAC) to have a Medicare rebate introduced for mole-mapping photography for patients at high risk of melanoma. MSAC is an expert committee that appraises new medical services and provides advice to the Federal Government about whether they should be publicly funded.
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One thousand seven hundred seventy Australians die from melanoma each year and Australia has the highest rate of melanoma in the world. One in ten men and one in sixteen women will develop a melanoma and Australia has no formal skin cancer screening program.
Women are being urged to take part in an updated national screening program that promises to protect millions from cervical cancer. Women now only have to undergo the new test every five years – no longer needing to have a pap smear every two years. Launched on December one, the new test will for the first time screen for the human papillomavirus (HPV). Cervical cancer is caused by sexually acquired infection with certain types of HPV. Two HPV types – sixteen and eighteen – cause seventy percent of cervical cancers and precancerous cervical lesions.
Cancer Council New South Wales’s Karen Canfell, who was part of the research team that drove the changes, says the test will increase detection of precancerous lesions. Professor Canfell said: “Because the new cervical screening test actually tests directly for the virus that causes cervical cancer, it’s a molecular test which is much more sensitive.” Women will get their first invitation to screen on their twenty fifth birthday. She also said after the introduction of the new screening program, many countries are now looking to Australia to follow its lead.
A new law in South Australia would allow children born from donated sperm to track down their fathers without their consent. Health Minister Peter Malinauskas is pushing for a “donor conception register” to be set up with the controversial laws that are set to be introduced in Parliament following the state election in March. The legislation would see South Australians born through assisted reproductive technology (ART) able find out who their biological father is, regardless of whether the donor wants to be identified or not. While Mister Malinauskas recognised the change might be unsettling for some members of the community, people born from donors still have the same rights to information about their reproductive parents as anyone else.
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This announcement follows a review of the Assisted Reproductive Treatment Act nineteen eighty eight undertaken by Doctor Sonia Allan, with her findings providing recommendations about how to improve the outcomes for people accessing ART. Several submissions included first-hand accounts from people who were born from sperm donations and found themselves in situations where they needed information about genealogy.
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Mister Malinauskas said the report submitted by Doctor Allan provided the government with the information it needed to consider the legislative change.
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