Malignant melanoma is the most dangerous skin cancer. This increase that the melanin producing cells. The most common location of melanoma in women appears both calves and thighs and upper back in men. Most melanomas appear as points like “brown or black that have changed. Minority may be missing melanin that is pink or red. Some of melanoma will begin at last like a malignant change and some appear normal skin.
Number of melanoma revealed each year is much smaller than the number of other skin tumors associated with exposure to the sun, but more people get rid of the melanoma growth than by all other crops together. In the last 50 years there is a steady increase in the number of cases of melanoma in the Western world. Statistical calculations show that in the 21st century will be the person a chance of 1 to 100 developing melanoma during his life. Unlike other skin tumors that are affected directly by the sun the melanoma seems to be more related to severe sunburns in childhood and adolescence and less to cumulative sun exposure throughout life.
Statistical work suggests that a person who has severe sunburn on his first 15 years have three times higher the risk of developing melanoma than those who have not suffered sunburn in childhood. People are more likely to develop melanoma are fair skin (type I or II) who spend most of the week at work or school room and out over the weekend to suntan on the beach. History of Melanoma in ones close family is another significant risk factor .
How to treat melanoma?
There are two stages of melanoma growth. First it spreads laterally and then penetrates deeper into the skin. Severity is is directly dependent on the depth of penetration of the skin growth. If detected early , when it penetrates only to the epidermis and the upper part of the dermis the melanoma is removed by minor surgery under local anesthesia and prospects for recovery are good. If the melanoma penetration is less than half a millimeter there is a 98 percent chance that the patient will live 5 years or more.
Grades of malignant melanoma:
There are two types of malignant melanoma rating:
Clark’s – Melanoma rating according to the different skin layers penetration
Class I-The tumor penetrates to epidermis only
Class II-that penetrates the superficial layer of the dermis
Class III-that penetrates to the
interface between the epidermis and the dermis
Class IV-that penetrates the dermis
Class V- penetrating the subcutaneous tissue
Survival according to depth:
Class Ia – whose thickness up to 0.75 mm (Clark’s level II) 95% survival
Class Ib-you rank of 0.76 to 1.5 mm thickness (Clark’s level III) 86% survival
Class IIa-whose thickness of 1.5 to 4 mm (Clark’s level IV) 75% survival
Class IIb-whose thickness over 4 mm (Clark’s level V) 65% survival
Class III-regional lymph nodes or the appearance of up to 5 transit metastases 35% survival
Class IV-presence of distant metastases 5% survival
In the past it was customary to enlarge skin excision for 5 cm diameter beyond the edge of the melanoma. Today is accepted by most plastic surgeons and dermatologists that it is enough to cut skin away from 1 cm to 3 cm from the edge of the tumor, according to the depth of his penetration. If the melanoma is diagnosed after having penetrated the bottom of the dermis or to the subcutaneous tissue recovery chances are much smaller. In this case there is a need to check if the tumor has spread to regional lymph, more surgery and sometimes even to add chemotherapy or radiation therapy. The statistics prove that if a tumor depth is 3 mm or more the chance to survive for over 5 years is less than 50 percent. From 2003-2007, the median age at diagnosis for melanoma of the skin was 60 years of age. Approximately 0.8% were diagnosed under age 20; 7.5% between 20 and 34; 11.8% between 35 and 44; 18.7% between 45 and 54; 20.4% between 55 and 64; 17.8% between 65 and 74; 17.0% between 75 and 84; and 6.0% 85+ years of age.
The age-adjusted incidence rate was 20.1 per 100,000 men and women per year. These rates are based on cases diagnosed in 2003-2007 from 17 geographic areas.
US Mortality
From 2003-2007, the median age at death for melanoma of the skin was 68 years of age. Approximately 0.1% died under age 20; 2.7% between 20 and 34; 6.3% between 35 and 44; 14.3% between 45 and 54; 19.6% between 55 and 64; 20.9% between 65 and 74; 24.1% between 75 and 84; and 11.9% 85+ years of age.
The age-adjusted death rate was 2.7 per 100,000 men and women per year. These rates are based on patients who died in 2003-2007 in the US.
Five-year relative survival by race and sex was: 89.0% for white men; 93.7% for white women; 70.0% for black men; 77.9% for black women.
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