Melanoma (black skin cancer)

Mali­gnant mela­n­o­ma, also known as mali­gnant mela­n­o­ma, is a mali­gnant tumor of the pig­ment-forming cells of the skin. Alt­hough it only accounts for around five per­cent of all skin can­cers, mela­n­o­ma is respon­si­ble for the majo­ri­ty of skin can­cer deaths as it can metasta­si­ze ear­ly. The inci­dence is rising con­ti­nuous­ly worldwide.

Cau­ses

The most important risk fac­tor is UV radia­ti­on, with par­ti­cu­lar­ly inten­si­ve, inter­mit­tent sun expo­sure and child­hood sun­b­urns incre­asing the risk. Peo­p­le with fair skin, blond or red hair, light-colo­red eyes and many freck­les have a signi­fi­cant­ly increased risk.

Sym­ptoms

Other fac­tors include a high num­ber of moles, aty­pi­cal nevi, a fami­ly histo­ry of mela­n­o­ma and sun­bed use befo­re the age of 35. Mela­no­mas can deve­lop from exis­ting moles or be new­ly for­med. The ABCDE rule is used for the ear­ly detec­tion of sus­pi­cious skin chan­ges: asym­me­try, irre­gu­lar bor­ders, seve­ral shades of color, dia­me­ter over five mil­li­me­ters and ele­va­ti­on or chan­ge in size, shape or color. Not all cri­te­ria have to be met.

Dia­gno­sis

Any chan­ge in a mole should be cla­ri­fied by a doc­tor. The dia­gno­sis is made by exami­na­ti­on with a der­ma­to­scope. If the­re is any sus­pi­ci­on, the spot should be com­ple­te­ly remo­ved with a safe­ty mar­gin and exami­ned his­topa­tho­lo­gi­cal­ly. The his­topa­tho­lo­gi­cal exami­na­ti­on deter­mi­nes important para­me­ters such as tumor thic­k­ness, which is decisi­ve for the pro­gno­sis. If the mela­n­o­ma is con­firm­ed, exami­na­ti­ons are car­ri­ed out to rule out metastases.

Tre­at­ment

The stan­dard the­ra­py is sur­gi­cal rem­oval with a suf­fi­ci­ent safe­ty mar­gin. Modern the­ra­pies are now available for meta­sta­tic mela­n­o­ma: tar­ge­ted the­ra­pies and immu­no­the­ra­pies have signi­fi­cant­ly impro­ved the pro­gno­sis. The pro­gno­sis depends on the stage at dia­gno­sis. Thin mela­no­mas have an excel­lent pro­gno­sis with cure rates of over 95 per­cent. Con­sis­tent sun pro­tec­tion and regu­lar skin exami­na­ti­ons are essen­ti­al for pre­ven­ti­on and ear­ly detection.

Rela­ted tre­at­ment at Swiss Der­ma Cli­nic: Skin can­cer tre­at­ment in Zurich