title: Melanoma in the dermatologist's office.
abstract: Data about melanomas seen in a private dermatologist's office during a fifteen year period were evaluated as to size, location, stage, and histologic level of the lesions, and sex and survival of the patients. Forty-three melanomas were seen in forty-one patients. Only four patients (9 percent) died as a result of their melanomas. All patients were at clinical stage 1 of the disease. Thirty-two lesions were smaller than 1.6 cm. Twenty-four (56 percent) of the lesions were of the superficial spreading type. Apparently, patients with melanomas seek advice at a dermatologist's office when their disease is at an earlier stage of development than do patients generally seen in other types of medical settings. A plea is made to examine patients yearly for pigmented lesions. The number of melanomas seen per 10,000 patient-visits rose during the fifteen year period.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003880:Dermatology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008145:Louisiana; D008297:Male; D008545:Melanoma / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology