How long is the life expectancy of early melanoma

Malignant melanoma is a malignant tumor originating from melanocytes. It is highly malignant, prone to distant metastasis, and has a poor prognosis. Malignant melanoma often occurs on the head, face, and lower limbs, especially the feet.

In recent years, the incidence of malignant melanoma has been increasing year by year around the world. For example, in Queensland, Australia, where the incidence is the highest in the world, the incidence of skin malignant melanoma was 15/100,000 in the 1960s, and exceeded 280/100,000 in the 1990s.

The exact cause of malignant melanoma is still unclear, and the malignant transformation of dysplastic moles is one of its high-risk factors. "In fact, 60% of malignant melanomas are caused by benign moles," said Zou Qingfeng. Other high-risk groups include people with white skin, blond or red hair, blue eyes, and families with a history of malignant melanoma. Injury (such as chronic friction of moles) and repeated sunburn may also be susceptibility factors for this disease.

However, moles are common benign skin pigmentation lesions, and everyone has more or less moles on their skin. So are all moles on the body at risk of becoming malignant? Zou Qingfeng explained that although most malignant melanomas are caused by the malignant transformation of moles, it does not mean that most moles will become malignant melanomas. Moles that become malignant only account for a very small part of moles.

However, unclear understanding of moles and improper treatment can indeed cause moles to become malignant and induce the occurrence of malignant melanoma.

For early-stage malignant melanoma, the correct approach is to remove the entire mole and send it for pathological examination. "It should be noted that the lesion must be removed completely, along with the surrounding 0.5-1.0 cm of normal skin and subcutaneous fat." Zou Qingfeng said that this is because malignant melanoma is highly malignant and easy to metastasize, and any stimulation such as squeezing can promote tumor spread. In addition, when removing the mole, the doctor should also pay attention to whether there are residual mole cells at the edge of the cut. If the removal is not enough, further treatment is required, otherwise the residual mole cells are also very likely to become malignant.

If pathological examination confirms that it is malignant melanoma, the scope of the surgery will have to be expanded, and the skin and even muscle around the malignant melanoma will be removed again, and then immunotherapy will be used.