Malignant Skin Tumours: The Guide to Diagnosis and Treatment of Non-melanoma Skin Cancer and Malignant Melanoma
Abstract
The Malignant cutaneous tumours monograph should be a compendium, in which a team of authors attempted to summarise, in a clear and concise form, what is currently significant and possible in the field of cutaneous tumour treatment. The contents of the monograph are composed with the aim of being interesting not just for specialists, dermatologists, but also for physicians providing primary care or physicians and healthcare professionals who encounter cutaneous tumours in their everyday work.
The authors believe that healthcare payers can find relevant information in the monograph as well. The first chapter aims to familiarise the reader with the general principles of occurrence and development of tumours, with a focus on cutaneous tumours.
It lists the most important biological factors and changes, which are responsible for development of tumours, which are then explored in more detail in later chapters. In many cases a malignant cutaneous tumour develops from pre-existing precancerous sites/growths.
Early detection and treatment of cutaneous precancerous conditions can prevent development of a malignant condition, which is why it is an important part of secondary cutaneous tumour prevention. The issues of Cutaneous precancers is discussed in the second chapter.
Non-melanoma cutaneous tumours, including hereditary tumour syndromes, are dealt with in chapters 3 (basal-cell carcinoma), 4 (squamous cell carcinoma), 5 (dermatofibrosarcoma), 6 (Merkel cells carcinoma), 7 (skin lymphoma) and 8 (Kaposi Sarcoma). Immune system disorders and/or long-term immunosuppressive treatment can increase the risk of cutaneous tumours.
This issue is dealt with in chapter 9. Surgical procedures are utilised to various extents in diagnostics and local/regional treatment of cutaneous tumours (chapters 10 and 11), along with photodynamic treatment (chapter 12), cryotherapy (chapter 13) or local pharmacotherapy (chapter 14).
The last, 15th chapter, which encompasses roughly one third of the entire monograph, presents an overview of diagnostics and treatment and prevention options for skin melanoma, which remains, in terms of mortality, the most serious cutaneous skin condition. On the other hand, it is a type of tumour for which modern targeted treatment and anti-tumour immunotherapy have achieved very promising results and significantly changed the entire diagnostic-therapeutic paradigm for it.