Cutaneous malignant melanoma. II. The natural history and prognostic factors influencing the development of stage II disease

✍ Scribed by Donald H. Berdeaux; Frank L. Meyskens Jr; Bruce Parks; Tony Tong; Lois Loescher; Thomas E. Moon

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1989
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 722 KB
• Volume: 63
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0008-543X
• DOI: 10.1002/1097-0142(19890401)63:7<1430::aid-cncr2820630733>3.0.co;2-g

✦ Synopsis

The survival history of 259 patients with Stage I cutaneous malignant melanoma who were at risk for developing regional nodal metastases (Stage 11) were studied. Eighty-seven of 377 Stage I patients (23%) developed regional nodal metastases (Stage IIB) with 40% 5-year survival. Fifty patients had regional nodal metastases at presentation, with or without a known primary (Stages IIA or I & -. , respectively), with a 42% 5-year survival. A step-down multivariate analysis using the Cox regression model revealed four risk factors as being highly significant for predicting a more favorable survival outcome: ( ) thinner Breslow thickness (P = O.OOOl), (2) pathologic Stage I disease (P = 0.004), (3) no clinical ulceration (P = 0.0004), and (4) being a woman younger than 50 years of age (P = 0.029). These results are discussed in reference to other series.