interesting

The incidence of melanoma, the most dangerous kind of skincancer, remains unabated, in spite of early detection strategiesintroduced 15 years ago.
University of Otago researchers analysed figures from the NewZealand cancer registry to see whether thick melanomas (three mmthickness) had decreased between 1994 and 2004 because of detectionstrategies.
"Regrettably the answer is that we didn't find any decrease ofthick melanoma over the last decade," said Tony Reeder. "There wasthe possibility that early detection and greater public awarenessmay have had an impact on later development of thick melanoma, butso far that is not the case."
Of those diagnosed with melanoma the proportion with thick melanomais greater for older people, for males compared to females and forMaori compared to non-Maori and for those diagnosed with nodularmelanoma.
Researchers believe there are two possible reasons for the lack ofprogress in combating this difficult disease which caused 249deaths in 2004.
They said it may be too early to see any impact on thick melanomasof early detection, or the strategies may not be working as well asexpected as they are not allowing the identification of somemelanomas early enough.
Reeder believed that the situation needs to be monitored and thatthis study is an important baseline to work from in that regard."The problem is that it is often quite difficult to identify thickmelanomas early on.""They tend to have a nodular shape, but don't necessarily stick outabove the surrounding skin or have an irregular edge. They're notalways dark either, and can be quite pale and flat," he added.
Similar issues are now surfacing internationally where despitewidespread information about early detection of thick melanoma,many are being missed and the incidence rate has not declined asexpected.
The study has been published in

New Zealand Medical Journal
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