General Information

 Increasing incidence in the last twenty years - mortality rates have increased in many    countries

 Slowing increases in rates for younger cohorts (study groups)

 Most common sites are the back of men and leg of women
   Usually starts in pigment producing cells (melanocytes) in the skin, although it can    arise in the eye and, uncommonly, other sites

 May start in an existing mole or in a new area

 Growth rate variable, but may be rapid and highly invasive

 Most aggressive or dangerous of all skin cancers

 Most are secondary to sun damage but melanomas can appear in unusual locations

 Such as the nailbed of a finger, toe, nose or on the mucosa lining the inside of the    mouth, vagina, or anus

 May travel by lymphatics or spread by the blood stream

 Most common sites for metastases are the lymph nodes, skin, lungs, brain, spinal cord,    and liver; although they can spread anywhere in the body

 Melanomas can recur at the primary site if incompletely removed

 Overall cure rate for all treated melanomas is approximately 80%, ranging from    95%- 100% for very superficial tumors, to 40% for tumors that penetrate through the    skin into the fatty tissue underneath

 If regional lymph nodes are free of tumor, recurrence is much less likely than if they    are involved