Prognostic significance of pregnancy in stage I melanoma

The clinical course of 66 patients with stage I melanoma, diagnosed during pregnancy, treated in the Division of Surgical Oncology at UCLA, was retrospectively reviewed. These patients were compared with 619 nonpregnant female patients with melanoma. There was no significant difference between the pregnant population and control population with respect to location of the primary tumor, age at diagnosis, Clark's level, mean depth of invasion (pregnant females, 1.24 mm vs control, 1.28 mm), and histologic type. The 5-year survival for the women diagnosed with melanoma during pregnancy and for the entire population was 86% and 87%, respectively. These results demonstrate that women diagnosed with melanoma during pregnancy fare no worse than their nonpregnant counterparts. Criteria other than the theoretical effect of pregnancy on the tumor should be used to counsel patients diagnosed with melanoma during pregnancy.