Clinical behavior of 100 cutaneous malignant melanomas

The last 100 patients with malignant melanoma were studied following actual methodology, with these results: mean age at diagnosis was 55.3 years; mean age at the beginning of disease was 51.8 years. Lesions were more frequent in patients with pale skin; there was no predominance of any color of eyes. Forty-nine percent of the patients were referred with a previous nevus which was confirmed only in 7%. One tumor developed on a giant pigmentary congenital nevus. Lesions showed no preponderance in one sex. Four percent of patients had multiple lesions. Familial background was found in 5%. The localization was most often to the head and neck, trunk, and legs. The most frequent types were SSMM and NMM; the first one on trunk and the second one on legs. The SSMM was observed in younger people than NMM. Level IV was seen in the greatest number of cases, with an average thickness of 3.07 mm. In SSMM, level III predominated, while in NMM, level IV predominated. The average thickness of SSMM was 1.82 mm; that of NMM was 6.25 mm. Our data are representative of malignant melanoma in Argentina. Therapy and evolution of lesions will be analyzed with an appropriate long-term follow-up.