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Aloha! These pages were designed by Aloha Laboratories, Inc. as a resource center for the patient and the physician interested in the pathology of cancer and other diseases. This information is not intended to be used as a substitute for a medical diagnosis or treatment. Keep in mind you should always seek the advice of your primary health care provider if you have any questions related to your health, physical fitness or medical conditions. Aloha Laboratories, Inc. is an anatomic pathology laboratory located in Honolulu, Hawaii. Pathology is literally the study (logos) of suffering
(pathos). Pathology is a science devoted to the study of the structural and
functional changes in cells, tissues, and organs that underlie diseases, such
as cancer. Pathology attempts to explain the "whys" and
"wherefores" of the signs and symptoms manifested by patients and
provide a rational foundation for clinical care and therapy.
1992-2005 Aloha Labs celebrates 12-years of serving the Pacific Region! Aloha labs opened its doors in 1992 with the vision that if we
concentrated on quality and service we would succeed. Since then we have grown from three employees to a staff of
over 20 full-time and part-time employees. We provide anatomic pathology services to hundreds of
physicians, clinics, surgery centers and medical groups across the Hawaiian
Islands and throughout the Pacific region. We provide services to the State of
Hawaii Department of Health Family Planning Services and we provide
Dermatopathology consultations to Kaiser, Tripler, and Straub. We want to thank all of you who believed in our commitment to
excellence for making these past ten years truly wonderful. ●
Today's Health Topic University of California, Irvine - Men are more likely than women to be diagnosed with malignant melanoma after the age of 40, a University of California, Irvine College of Medicine study has found. The study is the first to show a specific way in which gender plays a role in the rate and age at which men and women may get skin cancer. It suggests that women who are going through menopause are at least temporarily able to reduce the rate at which they contract the disease. The findings were at the Society for Investigative Dermatology's annual meeting in Washington, D.C. Malignant melanoma is the most deadly of all skin cancers. While it constitutes less than 10 percent of all skin cancers, its rate is increasing faster than any other cancer in the world, according to the National Cancer Institute. The number of new melanoma cases has doubled in the past 20 years, and the disease kills more than 7,000 people every year in the United States. Its cause is not well understood. Frederick Beddingfield, a UCLA resident and Rand Graduate School doctoral fellow serving a cancer research fellowship at UCI, Hoda Anton-Culver, UCI professor of epidemiology, and their colleagues analyzed more than 40,000 patient records from California cancer registries and more than 100,000 cases nationwide. They found that women appeared to contract melanoma at a slightly higher rate than men until age 40. The rate for women aged 45 to 60 leveled off, while the rate for men rose dramatically after age 40. Not only did older men have a much higher rate of melanoma, the melanomas they developed were of a much later stage on average. Furthermore, the researchers found that the overall rate of melanoma has been increasing rapidly over the last 25 years. The rate of increase in melanoma for all ages was about 4.6 percent a year for men, and 3.2 percent a year for women. "This is the first study we know of that shows these specific and different patterns of contracting melanoma between women and men," Beddingfield said. "This difference may be due to hormonal or other changes during menopause, but the cause of the disparity is still unknown. Because melanoma is almost uniformly survivable when detected early but has a much worse prognosis if detected late, there may be a role for public education campaigns and screening. Elderly men appear to be prime candidates for such interventions. Also, by exploring this apparent protected period in women during menopause, we may be able to prevent this disease from occurring." "Melanoma rates increase in both sexes with increasing age, and that rate accelerates as both men and women enter middle age," Anton-Culver said. "However, it seems that women going through menopause have some kind of protective effect, which keeps their rate from increasing, at least until age 60." In addition to finding the sex differences in melanoma, the researchers also found that the risks of dying from melanoma were raised by increasing age, having thicker tumors or having the tumors on the torso instead of the arms, legs, head or neck. Having nodular tumors instead of other types of melanomas also increased the risk of dying from the disease. The researchers now are looking at what may cause this plateau effect among women of menopausal age. The study is part of the UCI-UCSD Cancer Genetics Network Center, which was established through a grant from NCI to study the complex genetic interactions in cancer. Under the direction of Anton-Culver, the center at UCI is one of eight research institutions nationwide that make up the Cancer Genetics Network, which was established in 1998 by NCI. Beddingfield has received grant support for his research fellowship from the Dermatology Foundation. Beddingfield and Anton-Culver's colleagues in the study included Stephanie Litwack, Argyrios Ziogas and Thomas Taylor, all of UCI
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