Can We Better Identify Thin Cutaneous Melanomas That are Likely to Metastasize and Cause Death?

Excerpt

Most patients with thin primary cutaneous melanomas (Breslow thickness ≤ 1 mm) have an excellent outcome, and only a minority experience tumor recurrence and death due to melanoma.1‐3 For example, in the American Joint Committee on Cancer database, which contains information on a large number of patients treated at many international centers, the 10-year melanoma-specific survival for patients presenting with T1 melanomas (i.e., ≤ 1.0 mm in thickness) was 92 %.4 In the United States, Europe, and Australia, the majority of patients with newly diagnosed cutaneous melanomas have thin tumors.5‐8 Therefore, even though fewer than 10 % of patients with thin melanomas will eventually progress, this population constitutes a large number of individuals. It is clearly important to identify these higher-risk patients early in the course of their disease if possible, so that management plans appropriate for the biologic aggression of their tumors can be initiated. …