Joaquín Mateos, medical director of MSD in Spain and Portugal.
The melanoma It is one of the tumors that is increasing in incidence in the West. According to the Spanish Society of Medical Oncology (SEOM) it is expected that in 2022 7,474 new cases of melanoma will be diagnosed in our country, almost 21 percent more than in 2020, when it was expected to diagnose 6,179 new cases. According to experts, this may be due to both sun exposure habits and a greater awareness of the population, who consult their dermatologists more when skin lesions appear.
On the occasion of World Melanoma Day, which is commemorated throughout the world on May 23, MSD wishes to reaffirm its commitment to the prevention of this pathology and its commitment to continue advancing research into precision medicine in Oncology to improve the prognosis and quality of life of patients with melanoma.
“In our commitment to continue inventing for life, at MSD we want to be with the patients and clinicians on this World Melanoma Day; a pathology in which the prevention and early diagnostic they are fundamental”, pointed out Mariví Tormamira, Medical Director of Oncology at MSD in Spain. “In this pathology we observe unmet needs and we must remain committed to the oncology researchboth in melanoma and in other types of tumors, placing the patient and their needs at the center of treatment with the aim of improving prognosis and quality of life”, he adds.
The importance of prevention and early diagnosis
Most melanomas occur in the sun exposed skin. When the damage caused by solar radiation exceeds our body’s repair capacity, mutations occur in the cells that can end up causing melanoma. For all these reasons, the best prevention is responsible exposure to the sun.
It is recommended avoid prolonged exposure especially in the central hours of the day and use creams with a high protective factor in areas exposed to the sun, especially in summer and especially in people with fair skin and in children. But in addition to sun exposure there are also other risk factor’s, such as age, sex, skin and hair color or the presence of moles, although only 20-25 percent of melanomas arise from a previous mole and most appear on normal skin. Therefore, it is important to consult professionals in case of doubt.
advances in survival
Despite of increase in incidence of this disease, five-year survival from diagnosis has improved significantly in recent decades, exceeding the 90 percent of patients diagnosed in early stages of the disease. Thus, for example, in the United States in the period between 2013 and 2016, deaths from melanoma in white people decreased by 17.9 percent.
This improvement in Life expectancy It is due to multiple factors, such as the population’s awareness of the risk of sun exposure and the use of sun protection factors, advances in diagnostic and surgical techniques and also in treatments.
“At MSD we are committed to moving the Scientific advances in biomedical innovations to help people with cancer around the world. For MSD, helping to fight cancer is our passion, supporting access to our cancer drugs is our commitment, and research is our mission to offer effective and safe solutions to people with cancer.”
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