In the last decade, the clinical management of melanoma has become more effective: basic clinical studies, randomized clinical trials, and new drugs have greatly improved the prognosis of patients, both in the initial and in the advanced stage of the disease.

This book offers a wide and up-to-date overview of the multidisciplinary treatment of melanoma. Among the topics discussed, there are the role of sentinel lymph node biopsy and the radical dissection, following the results of international randomized clinical trials, in particular MSLT-II. The last chapters are focused on new medical treatments in adjuvant, neoadjuvant, and metastatic settings.

The volume has been written for all the professionals involved in melanoma treatment, such as general surgeons, surgical oncologists, medical oncologists, dermatologists, radiotherapists, and nuclear medicine physicians.

The history of melanoma: from Incas to the 3^rd millennium

2 Epidemiology, prevention and clinical diagnosis
3 Treatment of primitive tumour
4 Histopathological examination: the keystone of treatment
5 Molecular assessment: when and why
6 New tumour staging: prognostic factors
7 Lymphatic mapping and Positron Emission Tomography (PET): the role of nuclear medicine
8 Evolution of sentinel lymph node biopsy technique
9 The rationale of sentinel lymph node biopsy: prognostic and therapeutic implications
10 Surgical technique and indications of radical dissections: axylla
11 Surgical technique and indications of radical dissections: groin
12 Surgical technique and indications of radical dissections: head and neck
13 Management of complications of radical dissections
14 Local treatments of loco-regional pathology
15 Surgical indications of metastatic disease in election
16 Surgical treatment of urgency
17 Medical treatment of melanoma: neoadjuvant and adjuvant therapies
18 Systemic treatment in advanced melanoma
19 Management of brain metastases.