New prognostic models aid assessment of melanoma prognosis, treatment approach.

MELANOMA; NEUROENDOCRINE tumors; DIAGNOSIS; PROGNOSIS; HEALTH outcome assessment

The article presents information on the diagnosis of melanoma that help to quantify a particular patient's prognosis. Recent study emphasize that the risk estimates it provides are population-specific. The study shows the new staging system is valid in the U.S. population at large however, survival rates by stage are higher than those presented in the original validation, which was conducted using a database from cancer centers and cooperative groups. The model based on specific prognostic factors, is not externally validated, and one of these days there will be other biomarkers in here that will allow to do better.