Skin cancer patients have a higher chance of developing other forms of the disease, research suggests. Experts found people treated for melanoma were more than twice as likely to develop other, unrelated cancers than the general population. The risk was also elevated - although not as much - for patients with other forms of skin cancer. The study, led by Queen's University Belfast, features in the British Journal of Cancer. It echoes previous more general research suggesting that one type of cancer raises the risk of developing another. The researchers analysed data from the Northern Ireland Cancer Registry, including 1,837 patients with melanoma, the most aggressive form of skin cancer, and 20,823 patients with less aggressive forms of the disease. Patients with non-melanoma skin cancer were up to 57% more likely to develop another type of cancer than people in the general population. They were almost twice as likely to go on to develop melanoma and had an increased risk of smoking-related cancers. But the risk of subsequent cancers was even higher in the melanoma group - more than double that of the general population.

Source: BBC News, 07 January 2008

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