[Vertical diameter (thickness) and prognosis of malignant melanoma]

By means of an ocular micrometer the maximal vertical thickness of 100 stage I melanomas was measured in mm. Depths of invasion were classified into five categories of patients, whose survival rates were compared. A correlation was found to exist between the thickness of the tumour and the prognosis. 92% of patients with lesions less than 0,70 mm thick survived more than 5 years; 68% of patients with lesions between 1,41 and 2,10 mm thick survived more than 5 years; and only 31% of patients with lesions more than 2,80 mm thick survived 5 or more years.