When we hear the word ‘cancer drug’, this is often combined with the word ‘controversial’. And this recent news article is no exception.

Suzie Mackenzie is a journalist and writer who recently wrote a biography of Gordon Brown. Fifteen years ago, she was diagnosed with the highly invasive skin cancer, malignant melanoma. When it recurred five years later, statistics and medical opinion said she would be dead within two years. However, she underwent a controversial therapy which, she says, is the reason that she is still alive today.

Melanoma is a systemic cancer, meaning it can travel to any organ. It begins on the skin, sometimes in a pre-existing mole but commonly on normal skin and looks like a mole. Usually darkly pigmented, it will typically have an asymmetric border. Melanoma is now the fastest growing cancer in the world. Two thousand people died of it in Britain last year, out of 10,000 new cases diagnosed.

Nowadays, we are all a lot more aware of the risk of sun exposure and it is relation to skin cancer – you only have to look at professional cricketers or the signs at your doctors surgery. Nevertheless, it is still not necessarily the main thing that we think about when we are on holiday. But we do really need to be cautious as Melanoma is directly linked to UV-ray exposure. A major trigger seems to be intense bursts of sun, particularly when young. Sunburn and sunbeds both increase risk.

Suzie underwent High-Dose Interferon (HDI) therapy, an experimental treatment that some studies had shown could extend life in some melanoma patients. High Dose Interferon is a form of immunotherapy, which boosts the patient’s own immunity to attack cancer cells. Suzie’s treatment took a year. One month having HDI intravenously for five hours a day, followed by 11 months of self-administered injections every other day. There are a number of side effects: extreme fatigue, nausea, hair loss, weight loss, and serious depressive illness to name but a few.

Most people agree that with Stage 3 Melanoma, HDI improves the odds of survival a small amount, but the drug is controversial as side effects are regarded as disproportionate to benefits. The NHS does not fund HDI as trials have proved inconclusive, but in many US states, HDI is the standard treatment.

If you are considering travelling abroad for treatment for skin cancer, then you might want to take a look at this blog www.thetravellingpatient.wordpress.com which is all about medical tourism.