Malignant melanoma: a pathological study of 87 cases

ABSTRACT

Eighty-seven histologically confirmed malignant melanomas of skin and mucosa were reviewed. The overall male female ratio was 1.02 1 and the mean age was 48.2 year. Seventy-three melanomas have arisen from the skin, the lower limb being the most common site of involvement [48 65.7%], mainly in the foot [38 52%]. The other 14 cases of mielanomas arised from the mucosal surfaces, six of them were ano rectal [42.8%] and 4 were nasal or naasopharyngeal. Histologically, the majority were nodular in type [5 1.6%], the superficial spreading type was [27.4%] and the acral lentiginous [19.3%], while there was one case of lentigo maligna melanoma [1.7%]. The vast majority of the cases were advanced and showing dermal and subcutaneous invasion [Clark's levels III, IV, and V]. Twenty-six out of 73 skin melanomas [35.6%] have already metastasized to the draining lymph nodes which were pathologically involved at the time of the diagnosis. The clinico-pathological aspects of malignant melanoma in Iraq were briefly discussed