粘膜黑色素瘤仍然是一种罕见的癌症，死亡率高且治疗选择很少。这在很大程度上是由于其发病率低，导致患者获得专家护理和用于研究询问的下游临床/基础科学数据的机会有限。延迟诊断、有时不准确的诊断以及缺乏共识的肿瘤分期等临床挑战增加了这些患者的次优结果。临床试验虽然很有希望，但很难启动和积累。尽管个别机构和研究人员试图寻求此类问题的解决方案，但国际、国家和地方伙伴关系可能为更有效和创新的前进道路提供关键。此外，粘膜黑色素瘤联盟将为患者和护理人员寻求专家意见和建议提供潜在的网络。黑色素瘤研究基金会粘膜黑色素瘤会议（2022 年 12 月 16 日，美国纽约）强调了患者、提供者和科学家当前面临的临床挑战，确定了这一罕见疾病领域当前和未来的临床试验研究，旨在提高国家以及粘膜黑色素瘤界之间的国际合作，努力改善患者的治疗结果。所包含的会议记录强调了粘膜黑色素瘤的临床挑战、全球临床试验经验、粘膜黑色素瘤的基础科学进展以及未来的方向，包括创建共享的罕见肿瘤登记处和加强合作。© 2023 作者。色素细胞

Mucosal melanoma remains a rare cancer with high mortality and a paucity of therapeutic options. This is due in significant part to its low incidence leading to limited patient access to expert care and downstream clinical/basic science data for research interrogation. Clinical challenges such as delayed and at times inaccurate diagnoses, and lack of consensus tumor staging have added to the suboptimal outcomes for these patients. Clinical trials, while promising, have been difficult to activate and accrue. While individual institutions and investigators have attempted to seek solutions to such problems, international, national, and local partnership may provide the keys to more efficient and innovative paths forward. Furthermore, a mucosal melanoma coalition would provide a potential network for patients and caregivers to seek expert opinion and advice. The Melanoma Research Foundation Mucosal Melanoma Meeting (December 16, 2022, New York, USA) highlighted the current clinical challenges faced by patients, providers, and scientists, identified current and future clinical trial investigations in this rare disease space, and aimed to increase national and international collaboration among the mucosal melanoma community in an effort to improve patient outcomes. The included proceedings highlight the clinical challenges of mucosal melanoma, global clinical trial experience, basic science advances in mucosal melanoma, and future directions, including the creation of shared rare tumor registries and enhanced collaborations.© 2023 The Authors. Pigment Cell & Melanoma Research published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.