Insights Gained from Inadvertent Monitoring of Slow-Growing Melanomas

Giuseppe Argenziano, MD Associate Professor Dermatology & Skin Cancer Unit Arcispedale Santa Maria Nuova IRCCS Reggio Emilia, Italy Melanoma, much like other cancers, encompasses a wide variety of biological behaviors. For example, lentigo maligna melanoma classically grows over many years, while nodular melanoma can present as a tumor that grows rapidly within a few months. The recent addition of the E, for Evolving or change, to the ABCD mnemonic (Asymmetry, Border irregularity, Color variegation, Diameter greater than 6 mm) for early melanoma recognition has provided the public and medical community an additional tool with which to identify potential malignancy.1 Such change can manifest itself as an alteration in symmetry, border, color, and/or diameter, as well as elevation and other traits.