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Late recurrence of stage I malignant melanoma
Author(s) -
Gutman Mordechai,
Klausner Joseph M.,
Inbar Moshe,
Rozin Ron R.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
journal of surgical oncology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.201
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1096-9098
pISSN - 0022-4790
DOI - 10.1002/jso.2930420206
Subject(s) - medicine , melanoma , disease , stage (stratigraphy) , lymph node , surgery , oncology , immunotherapy , cancer , paleontology , cancer research , biology
Although the introduction of well‐established risk factors has made the clinical course and prognosis of malignant melanoma disease much more predictable, in a considerable number of patients the disease's course is still not as expected. One group to which this applies are stage I melanoma patients who develop metastatic disease after 10 years or more of a disease‐free interval. In our series of 94 such patients, 6 developed late relapse of their disease. The subsequent survival of these patients did not relate to any of the primary tumors' characteristics, but to the pattern of the late recurrence. Four patients with visceral metastases were dead within 1 to 5 years following relapse, one patient with lymph node involvement is alive with metastases, and another patient with skin metastases has no signs of disease following surgery and immunotherapy. Our conclusion is that malignant melanoma patients should be placed under close follow‐up for the rest of their lives.