02/14/2013
Melanoma is a potentially dangerous type of skin cancer. It is diagnosed less frequently than other types of skin cancer (non-melanoma skin cancer), but has the ability to spread very quickly. Melanoma is extremely rare in children under age 12. Among children ages 10-14 the incidence is only 0.3 per 100,000 children. Between ages 14-19, it is still very rare, with only 1.3 cases per 100,000 children. However, melanoma is as serious in children as in adults, and early detection is still critical. Non-melanoma skin cancers are rare in children and young adults, but they begin to increase significantly in middle age and older.
Late January 2013, our new innovative technology, the SENTINELLA102, made presence at its first rare melanoma case on a 15 month old infant at South Florida’s only licensed specialty hospital exclusively for children, ranked among the best children’s hospitals in the nation. The melanoma was localized in the right cheek of the infant and the sentinel nodes were localized submaxillary by SENTINELLA102 after 4 minutes of injection. This is the first case in the United States using SENTINELLA102 on a 15 month old infant diagnosed with melanoma.
The SENTINELLA102 continues to make its mark in the U.S., specifically in South Florida with approximately 50 cases accomplished between 3 major medical centers –Aventura Hospital (pioneer of SENTINELLA102 in the U.S.), Jackson North Medical Center, and H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center— surgeries performed by renowned doctors such as Dr. Daniel Weingrad (pioneer surgeon of SENTINELLA102 in the U.S.), Dr. Seza Gulec, Dr. Robert Donoway, Dr. Vernon Sondak, Dr. Jonathan Zager, Dr. H. Charles-Harris, and others.
