Developments in melanoma management – success and failure

摘要

Melanoma is a high priority cancer in Australia with a lifetime risk of occurrence of 1 in 30. However the incidence rate rise is stabilising and survival now exceeds 90%. The improvements in melanoma survival are mostly based on mostly early diagnosis. The management of melanoma has gone from radical surgery to a conservative individualised approach based on new and better understandings of the biology and behaviour of the malignant melanocyte. Despite many “unknowns” and many earlier inappropriate management approaches, the outlook for melanoma patients has steadily improved over the last 50 years.