Clinicopathologic characteristics of cutaneous melanoma - A single-center retrospective study

Abstract

Introduction/Objective. Epidemiology of melanoma including the number of new cases and mortality have been established in most developed countries, but data on pathohistological features are mostly missing. The objective of the study was to investigate epidemiological, clinical, and pathohistological features of melanoma patients and compare the results with trends in other countries. Methods. Our sample comprised patients surgically treated for skin melanoma at the Hospital for Burns, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery during the 2015–2017 period. Pathohistological, clinical, and demographic features of melanoma were studied. Results. The retrospective study comprised 201 patients (109 men and 92 women) aged 25–87 years. Melanoma was more common in men than in women (54.2% vs. 45.8%). Melanoma in male population most commonly presented on the trunk, while in females presentation on the trunk and lower extremities was almost equal. Superficial spreading melanoma was the most common type of melanoma (68.7%), without correlation to the sex. No correlation was observed in relation to the stage of the disease and the patient’s sex (p = 0.294). A statistical difference was observed in relation to the type of melanoma and the Breslow classification (p < 0.001). Breslow’s thickness correlated with neither age nor sex. In relation to tumor invasiveness, 12.4% of the lesions were classified as in situ lesions, while 87.6% of the lesions were invasive. The majority of patients were identified as stage pT1a. Conclusion. This study can help to identify patients at high risk for melanoma and contribute to optimize screening efforts in a defined target population.

Keywords

• melanoma
• breslow
• serbian population
• melanoma pathology
• melanoma epidemiology