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Those with oncology jobs at one of the nation's most successful cancer centers are using a new treatment for the deadliest form of skin cancer.

Cancer Treatment Centers of America at Southwestern Regional Medical Center in Tulsa recently began offering a new melanoma treatment that actually uses a patient's own immune system to fight cancer.

The treatment, which has been dubbed Yervoy, is the first therapy for inoperable or metastatic melanoma approved by the Food and Drug Administration in more than 10 years.

"We are pleased to offer this breakthrough treatment for one of the deadliest forms of cancer," Steve Mackin, president of CTCA and CEO of SRMC, said in a statement. "At CTCA, we realize that time is precious when you or a loved one are fighting cancer. When an innovative treatment comes along, we do our best to bring this option to our patients quickly."

Yervoy is unique because it treats a patient's immune system instead of the direct tumor. The treatment is administered in four, 90-minute infusions over a period of three months. Patients who use the treatment have a higher survival rate after one and two years.

Here are some facts about melanoma:

• Metastatic melanoma occurs when cancer spreads beyond the skin surface to other organs.
• Melanoma is the deadliest form of skin cancer.
• The cancer is usually curable in early stages, but in late stages has a survival rate of six months and a one-year mortality rate of 75 percent.
• The American Cancer Society reported that there were 68,000 new cases of melanoma and 8,700 deaths during 2009.
• The number of new melanoma cases in the U.S. has increased for the last 30 years.

Labels: Oncology jobs