Defining Adequate Surgery for Primary Melanoma

Abstract

The incidence of malignant melanoma has been rising over the past three decades.¹ Much of the increase is accounted for by thin, localized cutaneous melanomas with the potential to be cured by surgery. Once melanoma spreads beyond the primary lesion, however, the likelihood of cure decreases dramatically. Five-year relative survival rates for patients with melanoma in the United States between 1992 and 1998 were 96 percent for those with local lesions but only 60 percent for patients whose melanomas had spread regionally and 14 percent for those with distant metastases.¹ The thickness of the tumor and the presence or absence . . .