Organ transplant recipients (OTRs) are at increased risk of developing non-melanoma skin cancers (NMSC). This has long been thought to be due to immunosuppression and viral infection. However, skin cancer risk among individuals with AIDS or iatrogenic immunodeficiency does not approach the levels seen in OTRs, suggesting other factors play a critical role in oncogenesis. In clinical trials of OTRs, switching from calcineurin inhibitors to mammalian Target of Rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitors consistently led to a significant reduction in the risk of developing new skin cancers. New evidence suggests calcineurin inhibitors interfere with p53 signaling and nucleotide excision repair. These two pathways are associated with NMSC, and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) in particular. This finding may help explain the predominance of SCC over basal cell carcinoma in this population. mTOR inhibitors do not appear to impact these pathways. Immunosuppression, viral infection, and impaired DNA repair and p53 signaling all interact in OTRs to create a phenotype of extreme risk for NMSC.

BACKGROUND. Thirteen patients were treated with either sodium tetradecyl sulfate (STS) or glycerin to compare the efficacy and adverse sequelae of each agent. OBJECTIVE. To determine the relative safety and efficacy of two sclerosant solutions. METHODS. Each patient's leg veins that were from 0.2 to 0.4 mm in diameter and that did not have incompetence from the saphenofemoral junction and whose feeding reticular veins had been already treated in a prior sclerotherapy session were randomly treated with either 0.25% STS or 72% glycerin solution. Patients were evaluated from 2 to 6 months

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Seventy-two percent glycerin is a safe and effective sclerosant with fewer side effects and more rapid clearance of telangiectatic leg veins than STS.

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