Cutaneous melanoma

Abstract

According to the American Cancer Society, melanoma represents the sixth most commonly diagnosed cancer in the USA; approximately 76,250 individuals are expected to be diagnosed with invasive melanoma in 2012 [1]. Between 1975 and 2005, the annual incidence of invasive cutaneous melanoma in the USA rose by an average of 3.1 % per year, faster than that of nearly all other cancers [2, 3]. The estimated lifetime risk of developing cutaneous melanoma will be 1 in 50 by 2015 [2]. Moreover, recent data showed a real increase in incidence for both males and females, including young women. Also concerning is the finding that although the incidence of most cancers monitored by the surveillance, epidemiology, and end results (SEER) program has been decreasing, the incidence of melanoma has been increasing; in fact, the increase in the incidence of melanoma is the highest of all cancers, even among the subset of cancers that showed increasing incidence between 1995 and 2006 [2].