Melanoma Review: Epidemiology, Risk Factors, Diagnosis and Staging

Rodrigo Arrangoiz

doi:10.11648/j.jctr.20160401.11

Abstract

Study Aim: Cutaneous melanoma accounts for approximately 4% of all skin cancers diagnosis each year in the USA but is responsible for 75% of skin cancer deaths. Physicians need to have an up to date knowledge about the epidemiology, risk factors, and clinical features of melanoma in order to make an early diagnosis and provide appropriate management decisions to improve survival in this aggressive malignancy. We will be presenting an extensive, up to date, literature review of cutaneous melanoma including the epidemiology, risk factors, diagnosis and staging. Method: An extensive literature review was performed using the following search engines: Pubmed, Ovid, Miromedex, and Dynamed. We limited our literature search to research papers written in English using the following keywords: cutaneous melanoma, epidemiology of melanoma, risk factors for melanoma, diagnosis of melanoma, clinical classification and staging of melanoma. Results: As a result of our extensive literature review we present an up to date review on the epidemiology, pathogenesis, risk factors, diagnosis, classification and staging of cutaneous melanoma. Conclusion: Physicians need to have an up to date knowledge about the epidemiology, risk factors, and clinical features in order to make an early diagnosis and provide appropriate management decisions in order to improve the survival patients with this aggressive malignancy.

Highlights

Cutaneous malignancies constitute one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers in the United States of America (USA), more than half of all cancers diagnosed each year [1]
Cutaneous melanoma accounts for four percent of all skin cancer diagnosis, but accounts for 75% of skin cancer deaths [6]
More than 90% of melanomas are found on the skin and four percent are discovered as metastases without an identifiable primary site

Summary

Introduction

Cutaneous malignancies constitute one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers in the United States of America (USA), more than half of all cancers diagnosed each year [1]. The incidence is increasing dramatically, at an overall rate of 33% for men and 23% for women from 2002 to 2006 (about 2.6% per year) [3, 4] These estimates for new cases may represent a substantial underestimation because many superficial and in-situ melanomas treated in the outpatient setting are not reported. Rodrigo Arrangoiz et al.: Melanoma Review: Epidemiology, Risk Factors, Diagnosis and Staging malignancy except lung cancer [3] This disturbing increase in the incidence of melanoma can largely be attributed to prevailing social attitudes toward sun exposure. The lifetime risk of developing melanoma for someone born in the USA in the year 2000 is one in 41 for men and one in 61 for women [11, 12]. Melanoma survival increased from 49% (1950 – 1954) to 92% (1996 – 2003) [15]

Pathogenesis

Clinical Diagnosis

Classification

Findings

Conclusions