From Melanosis to Mutations: The Present and Future of Melanoma Management

From the first description of an entity akin to our present understanding of Melanoma by Hippocrates of Cos in the fifth century bce, to the coinage of the term (melas “dark,” oma “tumor”) by Carswell in the nineteenth century, not much changed in the understanding or the management of this disease. The next century saw the application of increasingly radical surgery in an attempt to extirpate the disease without appreciable success in the outcomes for adv anced disease. From essentially useless chemotherapy in 1950 to 1980 with dacarbazine, it was not until the 1990s that first glimmer of hope was observed by the introduction of Interleukin-2 (IL-2).
Source: Surgical Clinics of North America - Category: Surgery Authors: Tags: Preface Source Type: research