Study of Rare Cancer Cluster in North Carolina Town Inconclusive

October 21, 2020

An investigation into a cluster of rare eye cancer cases in a North Carolina town has concluded without finding any definitive answers.

The Huntersville town council got $100,000 from the state to conduct the study about the ocular melanoma cases and got the report back Monday night, TV station WBTV reported.

A team of physicians from around the world conducted a range of tests, including environmental investigation looking for outside causes and genome sequencing looking to see if the cases could be due to a hereditary trait.

“It remains a mystery why an unusual amount of young females in a given geographic domain acquired this rather rare eye cancer,” said Dr. Mike Brennan, who led the physician consortium.

The station reported that the doctors would like to do statewide testing, but the study funding has dried up so next steps were not immediately clear.

Topics North Carolina

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