Melanoma Clinicopathology

Abstract

Abstract Molecular studies and epidemiological observation suggest that there are different melanoma subtypes with different biological aggressiveness, kinetics and prognosis. The incidence of melanoma is still rising, despite sun prevention campaigns. Although sun exposure is considered as the main risk factor, interference with genetics may play the leading role, not only in familial forms, but also in apparently sporadic cases which probably result from a chance combination of many low susceptibility genes. Mortality at best plateaus, despite earlier detection in the high‐risk population under dermatological surveillance. Indeed, most aggressive melanomas may develop out of this population, suggesting that education in self‐detection should target the whole community. Melanoma detection remains a clinical challenge based on cognitive, comparative and dynamic recognition. Artificial intelligence may contribute to improving efficiency of the whole screening process by providing tools for self‐detection, augmenting the performance of primary care clinicians, or even the automation of mass screening.