Diagnosis, follow-up and prognosis of malignant melanomas by thermography.

UNLABELLED: Reference was made to a series of 35 cases of malignant melanoma which had not been operated on, and contributions of thermography in the following were taken into consideration. 1. DIAGNOSIS: the complementary nature of clinical, thermographic and histological information, both for the tumour and the lymph nodes; differentiation between less thermogenic malignant melanomas (Dubreuilh melanosis, LMM and SSM) and the forms giving rise to extensive and intense hyperthermy (NM). 2. PROGNOSIS: proposal of a prognostical classification which permits the evaluation of malignancy and, to a certain degree, the prediction of survival in a manner which is more significant than the histo-topographical classification. 3. FOLLOW-UP: detection of local recurrences and/or lymph-node metastases in an infra-clinical state.