New York, NY (MDN) – New York dermatologists have diagnosed a melanoma skin graft on a patient’s arm, a condition that the doctors said was similar to a new form of the disease, a patient who was not identified said.
Dr. John Siegel, the chief medical officer for Dermatology New York at Elmhurst Hospital, said in a statement that he was alerted by a patient at his hospital about the graft.
He said the patient had a high grade, non-pandemic form of melanoma, and he had been told that it was similar in some respects to the new melanoma-associated skin cancers.
The patient’s symptoms included fatigue, headaches, chest pain and a fever, he said.
He said the doctor in charge of the patient was able to perform a skin graft at Elmham Hospital on Wednesday.
Siegel said the patients diagnosis is the first to be made in New York.
The first cases of melanomas on patients in the city have been found in Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island, but not in the Bronx.
Siegel said it was not clear why New York had the first cases.
Melanoma is a type of skin cancer that occurs when the melanocytes, which are white blood cells, turn white and begin to die.
It affects about 3 percent of Americans, but about 30 percent of those diagnosed are younger than 40.
