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Updated: Dec 16, 2025
Pharmacologic Induction of Epidermal Melanin and Protection Against Sunburn in a Humanized Mouse Model
Published on: September 7, 2013
A retrospective multicenter study of fatal pediatric melanoma
Elena B Hawryluk1, Danna Moustafa2, Diana Bartenstein1
1Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; Department of Dermatology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts; Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.
Background:
Pediatric melanoma is rare and diagnostically challenging.
Objective:
To characterize clinical and histopathologic features of fatal pediatric melanomas.
Methods:
Multicenter retrospective study of fatal melanoma cases in patients younger than 20 years diagnosed between 1994 and 2017.
Results:
Of 38 cases of fatal pediatric melanoma identified, 57% presented in white patients and 19% in Hispanic patients. The average age at diagnosis was 12.7 years (range, 0.0-19.9 y), and the average age at death was 15.6 years (range, 1.2-26.2 y). Among cases with known identifiable subtypes, 50% were nodular (8/16), 31% were superficial spreading (5/16), and 19% were spitzoid melanoma (3/16). One fourth (10/38) of melanomas arose in association with congenital melanocytic nevi.
Limitations:
Retrospective nature, cohort size, and potential referral bias.
Conclusions:
Pediatric melanoma can be fatal in diverse clinical presentations, including a striking prevalence of Hispanic patients compared to adult disease, and with a range of clinical subtypes, although no fatal cases of spitzoid melanoma were diagnosed during childhood.
