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

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 2015-2017. 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 female on the trunk and lower extremities was almost the same. Superficial spreading melanoma was the most common type of melanoma (68.7%), without correlation with the gender. No correlation was observed in relation to the stage of the disease and 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 did not correlate with age nor with sex. In relation to tumor invasiveness, 12.4% of the lesions were classified as in situ lesions, while 87.6% 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.