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Prognostic variables for patients with stage III malignant melanoma
G E Messaris1, M M Konstadoulakis, N Ricaniadis
1A'Propaedeutic Surgical Clinic, Laboratory of Surgical Research, Hippokrateio Hospital, Athens, Greece. amessari@compulink.gr
Objective:
To evaluate the prognostic factors for patients with stage III malignant melanoma and to identify patients at high risk of developing recurrent disease who may benefit from adjuvant therapy.
Design:
Retrospective study.
Setting:
Specialist hospital, USA.
Subjects:
130 patients with stage III malignant melanoma (according to the TNM classification), treated at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute between 1970 and 1992.
Main Outcome Measures:
Survival and prognostic factors on multivariate analysis.
Results:
Four factors were independent prognostic indicators for patients with stage III malignant melanoma: age >51 years (p = 0.008), >3 involved lymph nodes, (p = 0.03), the site of the primary tumour on head or trunk, (p = 0.007), and the presence of palpable lymph nodes (p = 0.004).
Conclusion:
These prognostic factors help us to stratify patients into low and high-risk groups. High-risk patients may benefit from more aggressive adjuvant therapy in future trials of treatment of melanoma.