Guideline 72: Cutaneous melanoma

Cutaneous melanoma
Section 12: Development of the guideline

12.1 Introduction

SIGN is a collaborative network of clinicians, other healthcare professionals, and patient organisations, funded by NHS Quality Improvement Scotland. SIGN guidelines are developed by multidisciplinary groups using a standard methodology based on a systematic review of the evidence. Further details about SIGN and the guideline development methodology are contained in “SIGN 50: A Guideline Developer’s Handbook”, available at www.sign.ac.uk

12.2 The guideline development group

Dr Valerie Doherty (Chairman)	Consultant Dermatologist, Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh
Mr Taimur Shoaib (Secretary)	Specialist Registrar in Plastic Surgery, Canniesburn Hospital, Glasgow
Ms Moira Black	Health Visitor, Perth
Dr David Brewster	Director of Cancer Registration in Scotland, Information and Statistics Division, Edinburgh
Dr Graham Duncan	General Practitioner, Kirkcaldy
Dr Alan T Evans	Consultant Histopathologist,Ninewells Hospital, Dundee
Dr Marie Fallon	Senior Lecturer in Palliative Medicine, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh
Mrs Carol Horne	Manager, TakTent Cancer Support, Glasgow
Professor Rona MacKie	Consultant Dermatologist, Glasgow University
Mrs Lesley Marley	Senior Health Promotion Officer, NHS Tayside, Dundee
Mr Alan J McKay	Consultant Vascular Surgeon, Gartnavel General Hospital, Glasgow
Dr Kathryn McLaren	Senior Lecturer, Pathology, University of Edinburgh
Dr Iain McLellan	General Practitioner, Kilmalcolm, Renfrewshire
Dr Nigel McMillan	Consultant Radiologist, Western Infirmary, Glasgow
Mr Jack Miller	Consultant Surgeon, Dr Gray’s Hospital, Elgin
Dr Marianne Nicolson	Consultant in Medical Oncology, Aberdeen Royal Infirmary
Dr Jonathan Norris	Consultant Dermatologist, Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary
Dr Gerry Robertson	Consultant Clinical Oncologist, Beatson Oncology Centre, Glasgow
Mr Duncan Service	Information Services Officer, SIGN
Mrs Karen Smith	Specialist Nurse, Plastic Surgery, Ninewells Hospital,Dundee
Mr David Soutar	Consultant Plastic Surgeon, Canniesburn Hospital, Glasgow
Ms Joanne Topalian	Programme Manager, SIGN

The membership of the guideline development group was confirmed following consultation with the member organisations of SIGN. Declarations of interests were made by all members of the guideline development group. Further details are available from the SIGN Executive.

The development group is also very thankful to the following people for their contributions to the development of this guideline:

Dr Douglas Adamson	Consultant Clinical Oncologist, Ninewells Hospital, Dundee
Ms Ailsa Brown	Health Economist, Greater Glasgow Health Board

12.3 Systematic literature review

Literature searches were initially conducted in Medline, Embase, Cinahl, Cancerlit, and the Cochrane Library using the year range 1993-2001. The literature search was updated with new material during the course of the guideline development process. A final update literature search was performed in March 2003. Key websites on the Internet were also used, such as the National Guidelines Clearinghouse. The searches were extended back to 1970 in areas where evidence was scarce. These searches were supplemented by the reference lists of relevant papers and group members’ own files. The Medline version of the main search strategies can be found on the SIGN website.

12.4 Consultation and peer review

12.4.1 NATIONAL OPEN MEETING

The national open meeting is the main consultative phase of SIGN guideline development, at which the guideline development group presents its draft recommendations for the first time. The national open meeting for this guideline was held in March 2002 and was attended by all of the key specialties relevant to the guideline. The draft guideline was available on the SIGN website for a limited period at this stage to allow those unable to attend the meeting to contribute to the development of the guideline.

12.4.2 SPECIALIST REVIEW

The guideline was also reviewed in draft form by a panel of independent expert referees, who were asked to comment primarily on the comprehensiveness and accuracy of interpretation of the evidence base supporting the recommendations in the guideline. SIGN is very grateful to all of these experts for their contribution to this guideline.

Dr Alan Begg	General Practitioner, Montrose
Dr Frederick Benton	Medical Director, St Columba’s Hospice, Edinburgh
Ms Elizabeth Boon	Lay reviewer, Annan, Dumfriesshire
Professor Martin Cook	Consultant Pathologist, Royal Surrey County Hospital, Guildford
Dr Michael Cornbleet	Senior Medical Officer, Scottish Executive
Mr Neil Cox	Consultant Dermatologist, Cumberland Infirmary, Carlisle
Ms Ashley Duff	Lay reviewer, Edinburgh
Dr Tim Eisen	Consultant Medical Oncologist, The Royal Marsden Hospital, London
Dr Jeffrey Evans	Consultant Oncologist, Beatson Oncology Centre, Glasgow
Professor Martin Gore	Consultant Medical Oncologist, The Royal Marsden Hospital, London
Dr Dermot Gorman	Consultant in Public Health, Lothian NHS Board
Dr Robert Grant	General Practitioner, Markinch Medical Practice, Fife
Dr Iain Henderson	General Practitioner, Kingsway Medical Practice, Glasgow
Dr Richard Johnson	Consultant Radiologist, Christie Hospital, Manchester
Dr Hassan Kamel	Consultant Pathologist, Medical School, Edinburgh
Mr Peter Lapsley	Chief Executive, Skin Care Campaign, London
Professor Hugh MacDougall	Consultant Clinical Oncologist, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh
Dr Graham McKillop	Consultant Radiologist, Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh
Dr Allan Merry	General Practitioner, Ardrossan
Dr Wolter Mooi	Consultant Pathologist, Amsterdam
Dr Julia Newton Bishop	Dermatologist, St James’s University Hospital, Leeds
Dr Pawlam Patel	Consultant Medical Oncologist, St James’s University Hospital, Leeds
Professor Bruce Ponder	Consultant Oncologist, Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge
Professor Roy Rampling	Consultant Oncologist, Beatson Oncology Centre, Glasgow
Dr Robin Russell Jones	Consultant Dermatologist, St Thomas’s Hospital, London
Ms Jeanette Semple	BACP Accredited Counsellor, Glasgow
Professor Anthony Swerdlow	Professor of Epidemiology, The Institute for Cancer Research, London
Mr Meirion Thomas	Consultant Surgeon, The Royal Marsden Hospital, London
Ms Margaret Thomson	Senior Occupational Therapist, Scottish Occupational Therapy Network in Oncology and Palliative Care, North Glasgow Hospitals Trust
Professor John Thompson	Director, The Sydney Melanoma Unit, Professor of Surgery (Melanoma and Surgical Oncology), The University of Sydney, Australia
Ms Jennifer Whelan	Head of CancerBACUP Scotland, Glasgow

12.4.3 SIGN EDITORIAL GROUP

As a final quality control check, the guideline is reviewed by an Editorial Group comprising the relevant specialty representatives on SIGN Council to ensure that the specialist reviewers’ comments have been addressed adequately and that any risk of bias in the guideline development process as a whole has been minimised. The Editorial Group for this guideline was as follows:

Professor Peter Donnelly	Academy of Medicine
Mr Douglas Harper	Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh
Dr Grahame Howard	Royal College of Radiologists, Faculty of Oncology
Professor Gordon Lowe	Chairman of SIGN, Co-editor
Dr Safia Qureshi	SIGN Programme Director
Dr Sara Twaddle	Director of SIGN, Co-editor
Dr Peter Wimpenny	School of Nursing and Midwifery

Each member of the guideline development group then approved the final guideline for publication.