Risk of second melanoma higher than thought

Experts are calling for physicians to be alert to this possibility.

By Victoria Stagg Elliott, AMNews staff. June 5, 2006.

Patients with one melanoma are at greater risk than previous studies suggest of developing a second, according to a paper published in the April Archives of Dermatology.

Researchers contacted more than 300 melanoma patients listed in the New Hampshire State Cancer Registry. While previous research has estimated the risk of a second melanoma to be about 3% or 4%, this investigation found that about 8% of those patients diagnosed with this cancer would have a second within two years; 6% would be diagnosed within one year of the initial diagnosis.

The authors also found that a third of these repeat melanomas were deeper and more dangerous than the first and that the more abnormal moles a person had, the higher the risk for a second brush with the disease.

Paradoxically, although sun exposure has been implicated repeatedly in melanoma's initial development, it did not appear to be a factor in the ensuing cases. The authors say this does not exonerate the sun as a contributing factor but rather suggests that genetics might have a stronger role in repeat occurrences.

Physicians responded that this study indicates the critical need to pay close attention to the skin of melanoma patients even after the cancer has been removed.

"This should cause more physicians to be much more vigilant," said Daniel Van Durme, MD, chair of the Dept. of Family Medicine and Rural Health at Florida State University College of Medicine in Tallahassee.