[Metastatic melanoma of low Breslow thickness]

We treated 8123 patients with invasive malignant melanoma were treated up to 1995. 2200 had invasive melanomas with less than 0.75 mm Breslow thickness; of these, 45 developed metastases. Three had second primary tumors with greater thickness. One case showed metastasis from another tumor. In two cases the metastases were not ascertained histologically. The remaining 39 cases showed some peculiarities: a greater proportion of late and of internal (as contrasted to regional) metastases. Most of these primary tumors had a Breslow thickness of more than 0.5 mm and were Clark level III or even IV. Male patients and primary tumor sites in the area of head and neck were significantly over-represented.