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Skin cancers

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Description

Skin cancers are among the most common cancers, with nearly 60,000 new cases per year in France. It is estimated that there were 15,513 new cases of skin melanoma in metropolitan France in 2018, 51% of which were in men.

There are four main types of skin melanoma:

  • extensive superficial melanoma (60 to 70% of cases), linked to significant sunburn in the past.
  • Dubreuilh melanoma (5 to 10% of cases), linked to repeated exposure to ultraviolet rays.
  • Nodular melanoma (5% of cases) is the fastest growing type of melanoma. It can affect any part of the skin, including areas not exposed to the sun.
  • Acrolentiginous melanoma (or extremity melanoma) is most often found in people with dark skin, on the palms of the hands, soles of the feet or under the nails.

In addition to melanomas, which account for 10% of skin cancers, there are other types of skin cancer. The most common, carcinomas, represent 90% of all skin cancers. They generally occur after the age of 50, on exposed areas of the body. There are two types:

  • basal cell carcinomas
  • squamous cell carcinomas

Treatments

Several treatments can be used, alone or in combination, to treat skin melanoma: surgery, drug treatments and radiotherapy.

SURGERY

The aim of surgery is to remove the entire lesion and, depending on the case, to remove the corresponding lymph nodes (this is called lymph node dissection). It is the standard treatment for cutaneous melanomas that do not present distant metastases.

DRUG TREATMENT, IMMUNOTHERAPY AND CHEMOTHERAPY

Currently, several types of drug treatments are used to treat skin melanomas: immunotherapy molecules, targeted therapies and conventional chemotherapy.

RADIOTHERAPY

Radiation therapy can be used to treat melanomas that have metastasized.

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