Cancer and Sleep Apnea: Cutaneous Melanoma as a Case Study.

Abstract

Melanoma is the most aggressive of all skin cancers and carries a very high mortality rate. Malignant transformation of melanocytes underlies the occurrence of this malignancy , which accounts for approximately 5% of all cutaneous malignancies , but it represents a very large proportion of cutaneous cancer –associated deaths. The incidence of cutaneous melanoma has been on the rise and is currently the 12th most prevalent cancer worldwide, carrying an age-standardized incidence rate of 3.0 per 100,000, reflecting well-established dynamic interdependencies between environmental factors and genetic susceptibility . Known risk factors for cutaneous melanoma include increased lifetime ultraviolet light exposure, family antecedents of melanoma , degree of skin pigmentation , and hair color . The identification of new risk factors for development of melanoma or factors related to melanoma aggressiveness is crucial to the development of new treatment options (1).