Prognosis
Several factors play a major role in the prognosis of melanoma. The tumor thickness, metastasis and localization (place of occurrence) of the primary tumor are of importance. Melanomas of the arms and legs have a better prognosis than melanomas of the trunk.
This is due to the fact that a metastasis of melanomas of the extremities can only occur in one side. Melanomas are classified using the TNM classification. In this case, the T stands for the penetration depth of the tumor, the N denotes lymph node involvement (N0 = no lymph node involvement, N1 = at least one lymph node is affected) and M stands for the presence of distant metastases (M0 = no distant metastases, M1 = distant metastases present).
Survival rate melanoma
Furthermore, there is the American classification AJCC which is illustrated in the table below with the respective 10-year survival rate. This value indicates how many patients are still alive after 10 years of the disease.
