{"doi":"10.3390/cancers18030461","title":"Impact of Dermatologic Screening and Methods on Breslow Thickness in Melanoma: A Retrospective Cohort Study","abstract":"<jats:p>Background/Objectives: Melanoma is the most lethal cutaneous neoplasm, with Breslow thickness being a key prognostic factor. This retrospective cohort study aimed to assess the impact of screening frequency and diagnostic methods on tumour stage at diagnosis and to explore implications for risk-adapted strategies. Methods: Between 2017 and 2024, 475 cases of melanoma were diagnosed in 397 patients. Screening frequency, diagnostic method, and patient risk were analyzed in relation to tumour stage. Results: Compared with first-visit cases, patients who underwent screening within two years prior to diagnosis were more often diagnosed with melanoma in situ (32.6% vs. 44–51%; p &lt; 0.05) and had thinner invasive tumours (0.68–0.73 mm vs. 1.8 mm; p ≤ 0.001), though no differences were seen between screening frequencies. Full-body examination was associated with more in situ melanomas (46% vs. 34%; p = 0.016) and thinner invasive tumours (0.92 vs. 2.05 mm; p = 0.2) compared with lesion-directed screening, but this effect disappeared after excluding first-visit cases. Invasive melanomas diagnosed by mole mapping were significantly thinner than by dermoscopy (0.55 vs. 1.07; p = 0.035). In high-risk patients, tumour thickness decreased with more frequent visits (0.905 mm without screening vs. 0.40–0.55 mm with ≥1 visit; p = 0.001). Moreover, mole mapping identified thinner melanomas in the high-risk group compared with dermoscopy (0.47 vs. 0.60 mm; p = 0.02). Conclusions: Screening is associated with thinner melanomas and more in situ diagnoses. Digital mole mapping offers additional benefits, with high-risk patients profiting most, while low-risk individuals could be managed with less resource-intensive approaches. These findings support risk-adapted screening strategies focusing on intensive, digitally supported modalities for high-risk groups.</jats:p>","journal":"Cancers","year":2026,"id":654146,"datarank":0.10397207708399181,"base_score":0.6931471805599453,"endowment":0.6931471805599453,"self_citation_contribution":0.10397207708399181,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.10397207708399181,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":1,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":null,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":false,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":null,"fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":1707148,"name":"Apolline Potiez","orcid":"0009-0007-3617-8520","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1707149,"name":"Carmen Orte Cano","orcid":"0000-0002-1570-7856","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1707150,"name":"Joanna Bouchat","orcid":null,"position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1707151,"name":"Nancy Van Damme","orcid":"0000-0003-4636-7636","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1436392,"name":"Mariano Suppa","orcid":"0000-0002-9266-0342","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":519296,"name":"Jonathan M. White","orcid":"0000-0002-0707-6257","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1707152,"name":"Hassane Njimi","orcid":null,"position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1707153,"name":"Elizabeth Van Eycken","orcid":null,"position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1707154,"name":"Véronique Del Marmol","orcid":"0000-0002-4359-0667","position":9,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1707147,"name":"Katharina Wunderlich","orcid":null,"position":0,"is_corresponding":false}],"reference_count":0,"raw_metadata":{"has_enrichment":true,"resolved":true,"title":"Impact of Dermatologic Screening and Methods on Breslow Thickness in Melanoma: A Retrospective Cohort Study","abstract":"<jats:p>Background/Objectives: Melanoma is the most lethal cutaneous neoplasm, with Breslow thickness being a key prognostic factor. This retrospective cohort study aimed to assess the impact of screening frequency and diagnostic methods on tumour stage at diagnosis and to explore implications for risk-adapted strategies. Methods: Between 2017 and 2024, 475 cases of melanoma were diagnosed in 397 patients. Screening frequency, diagnostic method, and patient risk were analyzed in relation to tumour stage. Results: Compared with first-visit cases, patients who underwent screening within two years prior to diagnosis were more often diagnosed with melanoma in situ (32.6% vs. 44–51%; p &lt; 0.05) and had thinner invasive tumours (0.68–0.73 mm vs. 1.8 mm; p ≤ 0.001), though no differences were seen between screening frequencies. Full-body examination was associated with more in situ melanomas (46% vs. 34%; p = 0.016) and thinner invasive tumours (0.92 vs. 2.05 mm; p = 0.2) compared with lesion-directed screening, but this effect disappeared after excluding first-visit cases. Invasive melanomas diagnosed by mole mapping were significantly thinner than by dermoscopy (0.55 vs. 1.07; p = 0.035). In high-risk patients, tumour thickness decreased with more frequent visits (0.905 mm without screening vs. 0.40–0.55 mm with ≥1 visit; p = 0.001). Moreover, mole mapping identified thinner melanomas in the high-risk group compared with dermoscopy (0.47 vs. 0.60 mm; p = 0.02). Conclusions: Screening is associated with thinner melanomas and more in situ diagnoses. Digital mole mapping offers additional benefits, with high-risk patients profiting most, while low-risk individuals could be managed with less resource-intensive approaches. These findings support risk-adapted screening strategies focusing on intensive, digitally supported modalities for high-risk groups.</jats:p>","is_dataset_classified":null,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"views":0,"has_version_chain":false,"is_dataset":false,"is_oa":false,"pmid":"41681931","pmcid":"PMC12897046","openalex_id":null,"authors":[],"funders":[],"total_grants":0,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"citation_trend":[],"oa_status":"gold","license":"cc-by","oa_locations":[{"url":"https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/18/3/461/pdf","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/12897046","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12897046/","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC12897046","host_type":"Europe_PMC"},{"url":"https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC12897046?pdf=render","host_type":"Europe_PMC"}],"fields_of_study":[],"mesh_terms":[],"keywords":["Melanoma","Dermoscopy","Skin Cancer Screening","Breslow Thickness","Digital Mole Mapping"],"sdg_mappings":[],"linked_datasets":[],"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"database_accessions":[],"source":"live","citation_network_status":"fetched"},"created_at":"2026-08-11T04:11:37.849868Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}