McCain's Biopsy Shows No Cancer

July 30, 2008 -- The growth removed from Republican presidential candidate John McCain's upper right cheek on Monday shows no evidence of skin cancer, according to a statement released Tuesday by his press office.

The three-sentence statement was issued by Michael Yardley, chairman of public affairs at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Ariz., where McCain went for treatment Monday.

"Senator McCain visited the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Ariz., yesterday, for a routine check of his dermatologic health,” the statement reads. “The biopsy that was performed did not show any evidence of skin cancer. No further treatment is necessary.”

McCain had downplayed the medical visit, explaining that he sees his dermatologist every three months for routine checks because of his history of melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer.

Skin cancer experts contacted by WebMD had predicted that McCain's growth would be benign.

The risk of a subsequent melanoma is increased initially, but declines as the years pass, says John Kirkwood, MD, director of the Melanoma Center at The University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute and professor and vice chairman for clinical research at the University of Pittsburgh's department of medicine.

Even if McCain's growth had turned out to be malignant, which Kirkwood and others doubted, they guessed it would likely be a non-melanoma form of skin cancer, which are much more common than melanomas. More than a million people a year in the U.S. are diagnosed with squamous cell or basal cell cancers, according to the American Cancer Society.

The biopsy was standard procedure, say Kirkwood and others, performed to be sure the growth was not cancerous.