Retrospective and clinical-pathological analysis of the melanoma cases between the years 2003-2013

Malign Melanoma (MM) develops as a result of malign transformation of melanocytes stemming from neural crest. MM constitutes 2-3% of all the cancer cases, and it is the most frequent reason of mortality among skin cancers. There is a very close relation between the lifetime and the thickness of the tumor. 157 MM cases diagnosed in Karadeniz TechnicalUniversity, Faculty of Medicine, Pathology Department Archives between the dates January 01, 2003 - December 31, 2013 were included in our study. The cases were examined in terms of prognostic factors (the localization, histologic sub-types, Clark and Breslow stages, the number of mitosis, the existence of ulceration, temporal lymphocytic response, and the metastases areas). 80 of the 157 cases (51%) were male; and 77 (49%) were female. The average age was determined as 62.61. Fifteen(15) of the cases were mucosal melanoma, 3 were ocular melanoma and 123 were cutaneous melanoma.Sixty-six (66) (53.65%) of the 123 cutaneous melanoma cases were women; and 57 of them (46.35%) were men. The localizations were as follows; head-neck 49 (39.83%), lower extremity 41 (33.33%), upper extremity 14 (11.38%), body 13 (10.56%); and those whose localizations were unknown were 6 (4.90%) cases. For both genders, the head-neck area is the most-frequently observed localization with 36.36 in women, and 43.85% in men. 34.84% of the cases in women had the disease in lower extremities, 13.63% had in the body, and 9.09% had in upper extremities. 31.57% of the lesions in men were determined in lower extremities, 14,03% were in upper extremities, and 7.01% were in the body. The histological sub-types of cutaneous melanoma cases were as follows; 65 patients nodular MM (66.32%), 11 patients lentigo MM (11.22%), 9 patients acrallentiginosis MM (9.18%), 7 patients superficially spreading MM (7.14%), 1 patient balloon-cell MM (1.02%), 2 patients MM developing from nevus ground (2.04%), 2 patients spindle-cell MM (2.04%), 1 patient acrallentiginosis melanoma in situ (1.02%). 44 of the Cutaneous MM cases had sentinel lymph node metastasis. The Clark Staging was as follows; 6 patients (6.31%) Clark 1; 5 patients (5.26%) Clark 2; 13 patients (13.68%) Clark 3; 42 patients (44.21%) Clark 4; 29 patients (30.52%) Clark 5. Twelve (12) cases (14.45%) had Breslow thickness between 0-1mm; 10 (12.04%) cases between 1.1-2 mm; 23 cases (27.71%) between 2.1-4 mm; 41 cases (45.80%) between over 4 mm. The treatment methods of 65 cases were known. 43 patients received surgical treatment; 21 patients received radiotherapy; 44 patients chemotherapy; 7 patients lymph node dissection. 8 of the cases had satellite, 8 of them had microsatellite, and 1 of them had in-transit metastasis. As a conclusion, it has been detected that the cases that were diagnosed were frequently the ones with further-stage thick tumors. It has also been concluded that the society should be informed about the melanoma, risk factors, and the protection methods.