In a nutshell
This study investigated the factors associated with local recurrence (LR; when the cancer comes back) in melanoma patients. Researchers suggested that a surgical margin of greater than or equal to 1cm reduces the risk of LR.
Some background
Most patients with a primary melanoma (stage 1) have a tumor that is thin (equal to 1 mm or less) and have a good prognosis. However, 8% of patients with stage 1 melanoma die of their disease within 10 years, many of them after initial LR. Other studies investigating thin melanomas and recurrences (when the cancer comes back) have only studied distant metastasis (spread to other parts of the body) and not local recurrences.
Methods & findings
This study included information on 10,505 patients who had 11,290 primary melanomas (1 mm thick or less) and who underwent surgery. Of these, 176 primary tumors recurred locally (1.6%). The average time to LR was 37 months. Patients were followed for an average of 93 months.
The 5-year melanoma-specific survival rate (time from treatment until death due to melanoma) for patients with an LR was 90.1%, and the 10-year was 78.7%. In patients without an LR, 5- and 10-year survival rates were 100%.
The characteristics associated with LR were the type of melanoma (, the type of tumor cell and the surgical margin (outer edges of the tumor that were removed alongside with tumor cells). Higher rates of LR were associated with surgical margins of less than 1 cm.
The bottom line
This study determined that surgical margins greater than or equal to 1 cm are associated with lower rates of LR.
Published By :
Annals of Surgical Oncology
Date :
Nov 11, 2015
