Cutaneous melanoma
- Study type
- Review article
- Design
- Review article (Seminar)
- Sample size
- Not applicable (review article)
- Source
- The Lancet · 2023
In plain words
Cutaneous melanoma is a type of skin cancer that starts in the skin's pigment-making cells (melanocytes) and is mostly linked to sunlight and artificial tanning. The first treatment is wide removal of the tumour by surgery, and at higher stages immunotherapy, targeted therapy or radiotherapy may be needed. New drugs, especially immunotherapy, have greatly improved survival. Treatment of advanced disease is complex and is best carried out by a multidisciplinary team.
Study population
This is a review article and did not enrol specific patients; its subject is cutaneous melanoma, a malignancy arising from the melanocytes of the skin.
Endpoints
This is a review article and no defined primary or secondary endpoints are mentioned in the abstract.
Safety and side effects
No specific safety data (grade 3 and higher adverse events) are reported in the abstract.
Clinical significance and place in guidelines
This review emphasises wide excision with margins matched to tumour thickness, the role of staging with histopathological assessment and sentinel lymph node biopsy, and the importance of systemic therapy (especially immune checkpoint inhibitors) in the adjuvant setting and in advanced disease. Multidisciplinary care is considered essential. This is a review article, not a formal clinical guideline; current clinical guidelines should be checked for decision-making.
Limitations
This is a narrative review and the method of searching and selecting sources is not given in the abstract. No quantitative data or specific results are reported in the abstract.
This summary was prepared by the editorial team from the published paper; the original paper is the final reference. Read the original abstract on PubMed.