Cutaneous melanoma: ESMO Clinical Practice Guidelines for diagnosis, treatment and follow-up

Abstract

The European incidence of malignant melanoma varies from 3 to 5/100 000/year in Mediterranean countries to 12–25 (and rising) in Nordic countries. Increased ultraviolet (UV) light exposure of a genetically predisposed population seems to be, at least in part, responsible for an ongoing increase in incidence with signs of stabilisation of mortality over recent decades, except in elderly males [1]. There is a disparity in the mortality-to-incidence ratios between Western and Eastern European countries [2], implying a need to improve prevention, especially in Eastern Europe.