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Primary Melanoma

Topic Overview

Most primary melanomas go through phases of growth—a radial growth phase and a vertical growth phase—while staying confined to the outer skin layer (epidermis) and inner skin layer (dermis). During the radial growth phase, melanoma grows out into skin on the side but only slightly down into the skin layers. Cancer cells stay in the epidermis, the area between the epidermis and dermis, and the upper dermis. Primary melanomas rarely spread (metastasize) to other sites in the body in this phase. Thin, radial-growth–phase primary melanomas are easily cured by surgical removal (excision).

During the vertical growth phase, the cancer grows down into skin, and a small raised bump (nodule) may develop on the surface of the melanoma. Melanoma that has entered the vertical growth phase is more likely to spread to other parts of the body and is more difficult to cure than is radial-growth–phase melanoma.1

References

Citations

  1. Slingluff CL, et al. (2008). Cutaneous melanoma. In VT DeVita et al., eds., DeVita, Hellman, and Rosenberg’s Cancer: Principles and Practice of Oncology, 8th ed., vol. 2, pp. 1897–1951. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.

Credits

By Healthwise Staff
Primary Medical Reviewer Kathleen Romito, MD - Family Medicine
Specialist Medical Reviewer Alexander H. Murray, MD, FRCPC - Dermatology
Last Revised December 17, 2010

Last Revised: December 17, 2010

Author: Healthwise Staff

Medical Review: Kathleen Romito, MD - Family Medicine & Alexander H. Murray, MD, FRCPC - Dermatology

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