title: Acral Lentiginous Melanoma.
abstract: Acral lentiginous melanoma (ALM) is a rare subtype of melanoma mainly arising on the palms, soles, and nail beds. ALM is the most common subtype of melanoma found in patients of Asian or African descent and tends to more advanced at presentation due to delays in diagnosis. Surgical treatment is difficult owing to the complexity and functional importance of the hands and feet and reconstruction after resection is usually needed. The prognosis for patients with ALM depends on stage of disease and tends to be worse than with other subtypes of melanoma. Newer treatment modalities such as immunotherapies and targeted agents are being tested in patients with advanced ALM with some promising preliminary results.
authors.affiliation: Division of Surgical Oncology, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Melanoma and Soft Tissue Oncology, Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, New Jersey, USA. goydosjs@cinj.rutgers.edu.
authors.forename: James S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Goydos
authors.affiliation: Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, New Jersey, USA. stevenshoen@comcast.net.
authors.forename: Steven L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Shoen
mesh_terms: D005534:Foot Diseases / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D006225:Hand; D006801:Humans; D008545:Melanoma / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D009260:Nail Diseases / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D011379:Prognosis; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*
keywords: Acral; Delayed diagnosis; Reconstruction; Subungual; c-Kit