Is overdiagnosis of melanoma a real problem?

December 17, 2023

The reasons for an “epidemic” of melanoma overdiagnosis are complex and multifactorial, and “melanoma” refers to a wide array of different lesions, with very different biological activity. The difference to the patient between a rapidly growing, aggressive nodular melanoma and a slow-growing, even indolent melanoma in situ is very large.

The below collection of papers written by global dermoscopy experts explore the topic of “Is a melanoma really a melanoma, and does it really matter?”. 

They are published in the journal Dermatology Practical and Conceptual and can be downloaded below:

Overdiagnosis in Melanoma Screening: Is It a Real Problem? (Brigid Betz-Stablein, H Peter Soyer)

Overdiagnosis of Melanoma: Is It a Real Problem? (Cristian Navarrete-Dechent, Aimilios Lallas)

Over-diagnosis, Overtreatment or Oversurveillance of Melanoma: Is There a Way Out? (Iris Zalaudek)

Melanoma Over-diagnosis: Historical Perspective and the Path Forward (Ashfaq A. Marghoob)

How to Combat Overdiagnosis of Melanoma (Harald Kittler)

With thanks to Professor David Wilkinson and HealthCert for compiling these papers. 

Sources:

Betz-Stablein B, Soyer HP. Overdiagnosis in Melanoma Screening: Is it a Real Problem? Dermatol Pract Concept. 2023;13(4):e2023247. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5826/dpc.1304a247
https://dpcj.org/index.php/dpc/article/view/3748

Navarrete-Dechent C, Lallas A. Overdiagnosis of Melanoma: Is it a Real Problem? Dermatol Pract Concept.
2023;13(4):e2023246. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5826/dpc.13...
https://dpcj.org/index.php/dpc/article/view/3746

Zalaudek I. Overdiagnosis, Overtreatment or Oversurveillance of Melanoma: Is There a Way Out? Dermatol Pract Concept.
2023;13(4):e2023250. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5826/dpc.13...
https://dpcj.org/index.php/dpc...

Marghoob AA. Melanoma Overdiagnosis: Historical Perspective and the Path Forward. Dermatol Pract Concept.
2023;13(4):e2023249. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5826/dpc.13...
https://dpcj.org/index.php/dpc/article/view/3750

Kittler H. How to Combat Overdiagnosis of Melanoma. Dermatol Pract Concept. 2023;13(4):e2023248.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5826/dpc.13...
https://dpcj.org/index.php/dpc...