PARIS-Lack of any hard and fast guidelines for best clinical practices means that the management of moles and melanoma during pregnancy is a challenge, said Dr. Marie Aleth Richard reporting at the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (EADV) Congress last September in Paris. Dr. Richard, of Hopital de la Timone, Marseille, France, said that melanoma is a hormonally responsive tumor. Increased levels of hormones such as estrogen, progesterone and beta en-dorphin can increase melanocyte stimulation and cause an increase in pigmentation. Some melanomas have progesterone and estrogen receptors. As well as altered hormone levels, pregnancy also induces a state of im-munosuppression, which decreases tumor surveillance and allows tumor progression.
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