The skin cancer survivors may fall prey to other cancers. A new study, involving the National Cancer Institute researchers requests to do a follow-up of such survivors for their whole life, as skin cancer may reappear in its survivors.

The data of about 89,500 patients was collected from the years 1973 to 2006. There were about 12,559 succeeding cancers, including 3,094 melanoma patients.

The danger of subsequent cancer is significant for melanoma survivors, reported Dr. Portia T. Bradford and colleagues. After scrutinizing the data gathered by the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results
(SEER) program, they told that survivors have a 28% increased risk of suffering from a second cancer. They are 9 times more likely to fall prey to melanoma as compared to normal people.

There is a wide variety of opinions and suggestions about for how long the melanoma survivor follow-up program should be conducted and how often the survivors should be screened. The optimal duration of follow-up of such survivors remains controversial as there is lack of clear data.

Dr. Bradford in her email to Reuters Health says, "Our study adds to the scientific literature on melanoma, and provides further evidence for lifelong medical surveillance of patients who have been diagnosed with melanoma for new melanomas and other cancers".