title: Melanoma in pediatric, adolescent, and young adult patients.
abstract: The family practitioner, pediatrician, and dermatologist all have potential roles in the primary prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of localized thin melanomas. Surgical and medical oncologists are often involved when controversy arises over the nature of the skin lesion or whether sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsies and adjuvant therapy are to be contemplated. This overview of melanoma will deal with the primary and nodal pathology, surgery, and medical therapy of melanoma in pediatric, adolescent, and young adult patients--and will raise areas of controversy that are only recently being addressed in databases of cases from this age group.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and Melanoma and Skin Cancer Program, University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA. kirkwoodjm@upmc.edu
authors.forename: John M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Kirkwood
authors.forename: Drazen M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Jukic
authors.forename: Bruce J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Averbook
authors.forename: Leonard S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Sender
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017024:Chemotherapy, Adjuvant; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008545:Melanoma / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D018332:Nevus, Epithelioid and Spindle Cell / Q000473:pathology*; D021701:Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D055815:Young Adult