What is Melanoma?
Melanoma is a rare but potentially very serious form of skin cancer. The ability to spread widely to other parts of the body is a unique
characteristic of melanoma that the other more common skin cancers,
basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma, do not possess. This
characteristic makes melanoma the deadliest of all skin cancers: it
accounts for only four percent of skin cancers, but 80 percent of skin
cancer-related deaths.
In the United States, an estimated 68,130 Americans will be newly diagnosed with melanoma in 2010 - one every eight minutes; and approximately 8,700 Americans will die of melanoma - one every hour. Despite tremendous advancements in medicine, the melanoma death rate has remained static over the past 30 years while the incidence is rising. Only three U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved therapies for metastatic melanoma currently exist, and they benefit only a minority of patients. More effective options for prevention, diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment are urgently needed.
There are hopeful signs for a better outlook. New treatments under development, including immunotherapies and molecularly targeted therapies, have produced dramatic responses in some patients with advanced disease. Even though some tumor regressions have proved to be transient, these results provide proof-of-principle for moving forward. Decades of research in melanoma have translated into significant scientific and clinical advances over the past few years and have generated much excitement in the scientific community and among patients and advocates. Investigators are finding ways to improve upon these results to combat this deadly disease.
In the United States, an estimated 68,130 Americans will be newly diagnosed with melanoma in 2010 - one every eight minutes; and approximately 8,700 Americans will die of melanoma - one every hour. Despite tremendous advancements in medicine, the melanoma death rate has remained static over the past 30 years while the incidence is rising. Only three U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved therapies for metastatic melanoma currently exist, and they benefit only a minority of patients. More effective options for prevention, diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment are urgently needed.
There are hopeful signs for a better outlook. New treatments under development, including immunotherapies and molecularly targeted therapies, have produced dramatic responses in some patients with advanced disease. Even though some tumor regressions have proved to be transient, these results provide proof-of-principle for moving forward. Decades of research in melanoma have translated into significant scientific and clinical advances over the past few years and have generated much excitement in the scientific community and among patients and advocates. Investigators are finding ways to improve upon these results to combat this deadly disease.
