[Descriptive analysis of cutaneous recurrence patterns in patients with melanoma]

Few studies have addressed cutaneous recurrence of melanoma. The aim of this retrospective study was to analyze the characteristics and prognostic significance of the different patterns of cutaneous recurrence.

Patients diagnosed with melanoma between 1988 and 2008 at Hospital de Bellvitge, Barcelona, Spain and for whom data were available for at least 2 years of follow-up were included in the study. Local recurrence was defined as melanoma invasion of the skin adjacent to the scar left by excision of the primary tumor, regional metastasis or recurrence as metastasis restricted to the area drained by a regional lymph node station, and distant cutaneous metastasis as metastasis occurring outside this area. The relationship between cutaneous recurrence pattern and age, sex, primary tumor site, tumor subtype, Breslow depth, and ulceration was assessed.

Eighty-five out of 1,080 patients (7.87%) had cutaneous recurrence. In 71 of those patients (83.53%; 27 men and 44 women; mean age, 60.68 years), this was the first indication of melanoma recurrence. Thirty-two patients had local recurrence, 32 regional metastasis, and 7 distant metastasis. Significant differences were observed in survival time from diagnosis of the primary tumor (P=.044) and from diagnosis of cutaneous recurrence (P<.001) according to the type of recurrence.

Our results suggest that the pattern of cutaneous recurrence is prognostically significant and related to the site of the primary tumor given that the majority of local and regional recurrences occurred in primary tumors located on the lower limbs and head.