What is known?
Thin melanomas (≤ 1·00mm) of the skin are increasing worldwide, causing around a quarter of all melanoma deaths in the U.S.A. and Australia.
What is new?
In this large population-based study, fatal thin tumours were sixfold as likely to be located on the scalp as on the back.
Thin melanomas of 0·80-1·00mm thickness were six times as likely to be associated with death as tumours < 0·30mm.
What does this mean?
Scalp location and increasing thickness are strong predictive factors of fatal thin melanomas, indicating that patients with these tumour characteristics require close follow-up.
Contact: Peter Baade
Reference: Claeson M, Baade P, Brown S, Soyer HP, Smithers BM, Green AC, Whiteman DC, Khosrotehrani K. Clinicopathological factors associated with death from thin (</= 1.00 mm) melanoma. British Journal of Dermatology. 2020; 182(4):927-931.