At 71, McCain gets frequent cancer checks

? John McCain, seeking to become the oldest elected first-term president, gets an in-depth skin cancer check every few months because of a medical history his own dermatologist calls “remarkable” for its number of dangerous melanomas.

He now appears cancer-free, has a strong heart and is in generally good health, according to eight years of medical records McCain’s presidential campaign made available Friday as it sought to prove that, at 71, he is healthy enough – and not too old – to serve as president.

The fair-skinned Republican nominee-in-waiting, who also sustained severe sun damage from his 5 1/2 years in Vietnamese prison camps, remains at risk for developing new skin cancers. He regularly has precancerous lesions and more common, easy-to-cure skin cancers removed.

It has been six years since his last episode of melanoma, the most dangerous form of skin cancer – and eight years since a melanoma invaded his skin deeply enough to scare his doctors. His dermatologist found no worrisome lesions during his most recent exam, less than two weeks ago.