Patients with multiple melanomas are at increased risk of death
Dutch researchers are calling for closer monitoring of patients
3rd July 2019
By Clare Pain
Patients who develop more than one cutaneous melanoma may need closer surveillance as they are at greater risk of death, a Dutch study suggests.
In what the researchers say is the largest study to date, those with multiple melanomas at diagnosis had a 31% increased risk of death over a median follow-up of 6.25 years compared with those who had only one melanoma.
The researchers analysed data for all patients diagnosed with cutaneous melanoma in the Netherlands between 2000 and 2014, a total of nearly 57,000 people.
Of these, 4%