Age as a prognostic factor in patients with localized melanoma and regional metastases.

ABSTRACT:

Background

We postulated that the worse prognosis of melanoma with advancing age reflected more aggressive tumor biology and that in younger patients the prognosis would be more favorable.

Materials and methods

The expanded AJCC melanoma staging database contained 11,088 patients with complete data for analysis, including mitotic rate.

Results

With increasing age by decade, primary melanomas were thicker, exhibited higher mitotic rates, and were more likely to be ulcerated. In a multivariate analysis of patients with localized melanoma, thickness and ulceration were highly significant predictors of outcome at all decades of life (except for patients younger than 20 years). Mitotic rate was significantly predictive in all age groups except patients <20 and >80 years. F

SUBMITTER: Balch CM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4121330 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature