Improvement of overall survival of patients with cutaneous melanoma in Germany, 1976–2001

Improvement of survival of CM patients diagnosed 1990-2001 as compared with 1976-1989 may not be entirely attributable to factors associated with early diagnosis and more favorable primary tumors. Therefore, factors of melanoma management, which changed between the 2 time periods, such as sentinel node biopsy, adjuvant treatment, structured follow-up, and surgical interventions in distant metastasis, may have to be taken into account.