An Analysis of Clinical and Histopathological Pattern of Malignant Melanoma

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: Malignant melanoma is a fatal tumor arising in the melanocytic systems of the skin. The incidence of malignant melanoma, formerly considered a rare tumor in Korea, is observed to increase. The aim of this study is to analyze the clinical and histopathological pattern of malignant melanoma in one institute. METHODS: Thirty patients with ages ranging from 33 to 80 years, diagnosed as malignant melanoma at our skin tumor department, were enrolled in a retrospective study over a 6 year period(2000. 9-2006. 7). The analyzed data included age, sex, location, duration before diagnosis, clinical type, level of invasion, and stage. RESULTS: The cases were identified and analyzed by clinical and histopathologic study. The male to female ratio was 11.7. Lower extremities(especially, feet) were favored sites. The majority of cases were acral lentiginous melanoma(40%), followed by nodular melanoma (36.7%), superficial spreading melanoma(20%) in this study. Clark level IV was predominant in histopathologic study. There was merely narrow gap among each stage by AJCC. CONCLUSION: The clinicopathological characteristic of melanoma in our patients is quite different with that in the West. In this retrospective study, primary lesions of the foot were predominant with melanoma, and a high percentage of these were classified pathologically as acral lentiginous melanomas. Patients had a more advanced stage of disease at first presentation and a more deeply invasive primary lesion than Western patients. These suggest that malignant melanoma has a worse prognosis in our patients than in the West. So, further organized prospective studies are needed to approach the prudent and accurate diagnosis and management of melanoma in Korea.