KEYTRUDA for advanced melanoma
What is melanoma?
Melanoma is a form of skin cancer. It happens when melanocytes (pigment cells) become cancerous. It can emerge anywhere on the body, but typically appears in skin that has been sunburned. It usually begins as a flat spot that changes over time (size, shape and colour), but sometimes it's raised from the start (nodular melanoma) and these melanomas grow quickly. Melanoma can occur in the eye (ocular melanoma), the mouth, vulva or vagina (mucosal melanoma) and under fingernails or toenails (subungual melanoma), but this is rare.
Who is at risk?
New Zealand has one of the highest rates of melanoma globally. It's diagnosed most often in older people, but sometimes occurs in younger adults and occasionally teenagers. It is rare in children. Certain types of skin are more prone to melanoma than others.
Risk factors:
- fair skin and red or fair hair
- one or more severe sunburns – especially in childhood and adolescence
- use of sunbeds, particularly by young people.
High-risk factors:
- previous skin cancers, including melanoma
- a family history of melanoma (in a first degree relative)
- large, irregularly shaped and unevenly coloured moles (atypical or dysplastic naevi)
- large numbers of moles.
Causes of melanoma
Genetics plays a large part, but one major risk factor is avoidable, and that is high sun exposure and sunburn. When unprotected skin is exposed to the sun's UV radiation, the structure of the cells is changed and permanent damage occurs. The damage worsens with more UV radiation. Exposure to UV radiation during childhood and early adult years greatly increases the chance of getting melanoma later in life, so this is a time when sun protection is essential.
Advanced melanoma
How is melanoma diagnosed
