Melanoma is a severe form of skin cancer. Prevention and early diagnosis are essential. Surgery and medicines have helped improve patients' lives. Further research offers the hope of even better treatments for this increasingly common disease.
Disease: Melanoma
Last update: June 2006
Intro
FAQ
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What is it?
Melanoma is a severe form of skin cancer. Risk factors include fair skin, intense sun exposure and repeated sunburn during childhood. Though it accounts for only four per cent of skin cancers, it causes nearly 80 per cent of all skin-cancer related deaths.
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Who gets it?
About 60,000 new cases a year are diagnosed in Europe. It is slightly more common in northern Europe than southern Europe. The number of cases has continued to increase all around the world.
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What can be done about it?
Prevention and early diagnosis are essential. Surgery is used to remove the localised melanoma if it is detected early enough. Later stages of the disease require the use of chemotherapy and/or immunotherapy with a relative efficacy.
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What does the future hold?
Pharmaceutical research is working hard to develop more effective treatments. There are many being investigated. These include chemotherapeutic agents, molecules called biological response modifiers, antibody treatments and enzyme blocking agents. There are also more than 20 clinical trials investigating the effect of different adjuvant vaccines. It is hoped that this research will result in the improved treatments this disease so urgently needs.