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Melanoma Epidemiology, Staging and Prognostic Factors

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Practical Manual for Dermatologic and Surgical Melanoma Management

Abstract

Melanoma is one of the most feared human malignancies because of its metastatic potential. However, most melanomas are fully cured by surgical removal and only a minority of patients diagnosed with melanoma will succumb to the disease. To care for our patients with this potentially deadly disease, it is essential to understand the metastatic and mortality risk of the disease. Staging has been developed to categorize patients and create groups who are expected to have similar clinical outcomes. Staging uses the best prognostic markers, but staging does not provide precise individual assessment of likely outcome. Numerous prognostic factors exist beyond the staging criteria, which may also help predict distant metastasis and mortality risk. In this chapter we will review the staging and prognostic factors of melanoma.

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Correspondence to Gyorgy Paragh .

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Almashali, M., Ellis, R., Paragh, G. (2021). Melanoma Epidemiology, Staging and Prognostic Factors. In: Lee, D., Faries, M. (eds) Practical Manual for Dermatologic and Surgical Melanoma Management. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-27400-9_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-27400-9_4

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