Researchers identify a subset of patients with early melanoma who face a very low risk of dying from the disease

Melanoma is the most serious type of skin cancer, but most patients have high chances of surviving the disease. In addition, there is evidence that melanoma is being diagnosed in patients who would never experience symptoms.  This study sought to identify early-stage melanoma patients with near-zero risk of death from melanoma.

“Not only are the results potentially practically useful, our simple models are highly interpretable and suggest insights into when melanoma is more or less dangerous for a patient,” said Kathleen Kerr, a study co-author and professor of biostatistics at the University of Washington School of Public Health.