[Ultrasound applied to the management of malignant melanoma]. / Ecografía aplicada al manejo del melanoma maligno cutáneo.

ABSTRACT

In the last few decades, the role of cutaneous ultrasound has increased in dermatology. This technique currently has multiple applications, both in inflammatory and tumoural disease. Indeed, melanoma is one of the tumours benefitting most from technological advances in ultrasound, both for initial diagnosis and for follow-up. Today, cutaneous ultrasound is a noninvasive diagnostic technique, whose main applications in melanoma are to determine tumoural thickness and analyse intratumoural vascularisation. This allows prognostic factors to be determined in real time and contributes to the diagnosis of subcutaneous and nodal metastases during initial staging and follow-up with a view to reducing morbidity and mortality.