Prognostic significance of the patient's sex, tumor site, and mitotic rate in thin (≤1.5 mm) melanoma

Patients who died of a melanoma thinner than 1.5 mm within 96 months (group 1, n = 60) were compared with those having a tumor of the same thickness who had not died in this time period (Group 2, n = 300). Both groups were investigated with respect to differences in patient sex and age and to thickness, diameter, exophytic growth, and site of the melanoma as well as the number of mitoses/mm2 of tumor area. Relatively speaking, more men than women died of a thin melanoma: in Group 1 (deceased) there were 32 men and 28 women, in Group 2 (alive) 58 men and 242 women. The better survival rate of females did not depend on the difference in the predominating melanoma locations (female face and legs; male trunk): In both sites, on the legs and on the trunk, women had a significantly higher 8-year survival rate than men with equally thick tumors. Furthermore, melanomas on the arms and legs of females had a better prognosis than those on the trunk and face. Both the patient's sex and the tumor site seem to influence the survival of melanoma patients. Only in men was the median of mitoses/mm2 of tumor area found to be higher in the first group (2.2) than in the second group (0.75). In women, no marked difference in the mitotic count was found (Group 1:1.1; Group 2:1.15).