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Implantation and Evaluation of Melanoma in the Murine Choroid via Optical Coherence Tomography
Published on: December 2, 2022
Re-evaluating prognosis of subungual melanoma: a comparison with non-subungual acral lentiginous melanoma
Che-Chia Hsu1, Yang Lee2, Yi-Hua Liao1
1Department of Dermatology, National Taiwan University Hospital and National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan.
Background:
The clinicopathological characteristics and survival outcomes of subungual melanoma remain unclear, with previous studies showing conflicting results.
Objectives:
We aimed to elucidate the clinicopathological features and survival outcomes of subungual melanoma and compare them with those of non-subungual acral lentiginous melanoma (ALM).
Methods:
A retrospective cohort study was conducted, analysing data from patients with ALM diagnosed between June 1980 and June 2024 at the National Taiwan University Hospital.
Results:
Among the 342 patients with ALM included in our study, 70 (20.5%) had subungual melanoma. Compared with patients with non-subungual melanoma, the subungual group had a higher proportion of younger patients and fewer patients presenting with advanced initial stages. The 5-year melanoma-specific survival (MSS) was 82.3% for subungual melanoma vs. 65.7% for non-subungual melanoma (log-rank P = 0.02). However, multivariate analysis revealed that only traditional staging-related factors and the year of diagnosis, rather than a subungual location, were significantly associated with MSS.
Conclusions:
While subungual melanoma appears to have a favourable prognosis, our findings suggest that this may primarily be attributable to confounding factors such as staging and improvements in prognosis over time. A subungual location itself may not represent an independent prognostic factor. Advances in treatments and diagnostic procedures may have both contributed to the overall improvement in ALM prognosis observed since 2010 in this real-world study.
