Malignant melanoma

  • M. H. Thelen
  • R. Bares
Chapter

Abstract

The malignant melanoma belongs to the group of malignant tumors of the skin or mucous membrane. The global incidence of malignant melanomas has risen continuously over the past few years. In Europe, the incidence of malignant melanomas among the white population is 8 in 100 000, rising with greater proximity to the equator to 20 in 100 000. In the Federal Republic of Germany, the frequency of new cases has doubled every 12 to 15 years [11]. A main cause is said to be the changing exposure of the population to ultraviolet light, primarily as a result of changing living habits (brief exposure to high doses of UV light during leisure hours as against former exposure patterns which were chronic but not lower in cumulative terms) [20, 23]. Alongside exposure to UV light, skin type, hair color and the number of melanocytic naevi are all considered to constitute risk factors for the development of a malignant melanoma [2, 12]. Alongside race and gender (more favorable prognosis for women despite higher incidence), other prognostic factors include the anatomic localization of the primary tumor [13, 14, 34].

Keywords

Positron Emission Tomography Sentinel Node Melanoma Metastasis Primary Cutaneous Melanoma Conventional Staging 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2000

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  • M. H. Thelen
  • R. Bares

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