This Article  • References  • Full text PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on Web of Science (4)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

What Have We Learned?

Howard K. Koh, MD

Arch Dermatol. 1986;122(9):993-994.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

Every dermatologist has faced the anxious melanoma patient who asks: "What is melanoma? What's going to happen to me? Can I be cured? When will I know if I am cured? Am I going to die?" As the incidence of melanoma continues to rise, so will the frequency of these poignant questions.

The study by Rogers et al¹ in this issue of the ARCHIVES uses hazard-rate analysis to help us address some of these questions. Their long-term study of 719 consecutive patients with clinical stage I malignant melanoma examines prognosis and outcome and reaches some interesting conclusions and implications.

First, their study reemphasizes the crucial point that early melanoma can be cured. Although physicians are rightfully cautious when applying the term cure to any patient with cancer, it appears that patients who survive ten years after definitive surgery have little to no chance of dying from recurrent melanoma. In . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
Department of Dermatology, Medicine, and Public Health Boston University School of Medicine 75 E Concord St Boston, MA 02111

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?