ABSTRACT
Objective To evaluate the clinical efficacy,failure pattern and prognostic factors of the malignant mucosal melanoma of the head and neck ( MMHN) in a single center. Methods The treatment pattern,clinical efficacy, failure pattern and prognostic factors of 194 M0MMHN patients admitted to our institution from 1982 to 2017 were retrospectively analyzed.Results The 5-year overall survival (OS),local recurrence-free survival ( LRFS ), regional recurrence-free survival ( RRFS ) and distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS) were 41. 4%,57. 8%,76. 5% and 46. 5%,respectively. The failure rate was calculated as 74. 6%(141/189).Among them,40% (56/141) had distant metastasis as the first pattern of treatment failure,37%(52/141) had local relapse,15%(21/141) had regional relapse,5%(7/141) had concurrent distant metastasis and local/regional relapse and 3% ( 5/141) had concurrent local and regional relapse. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that surgical margins (P=0. 001) and adjuvant radiotherapy (P=0. 000) were the independent prognostic factors for LRFS. Conclusions Surgery combined with radiotherapy can yield relatively high LRFS in the comprehensive treatment of MMHN.Distant metastasis is the major failure pattern.