NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - "Rates of malignant melanoma and skin cancer are increased before a diagnosis of Parkinson's disease, new research suggests. This casts doubt on the notion that levodopa therapy for Parkinson's disease may contribute to the observed higher risk of malignant melanoma in such patients........
......the prevalence of malignant melanoma was 44 percent higher and the prevalence of skin carcinoma was 26 percent higher in patients with Parkinson's disease compared with controls.......
......The current findings, Olsen and colleagues conclude, appear to weaken the hypothesis that levodopa is causally related to an increased risk of malignant melanoma."
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