Erratum to: Ir J Med Sci DOI 10.1007/s11845-014-1157-5

The original version of the article has been published with few errors. The corrected text is given below:

  • The final sentence of paragraph 1 of the Introduction should read: The other two studies [5, 6], both from the United States, investigated the same relationship and whilst they found similar outcomes, they did notice a small non-significant correlation between an increasing SI and reduced overall and disease-free survival.

  • Sentences 1 and 2 from paragraph 1 of the Methods should read: A retrospective review of a prospectively maintained database including all adult patients diagnosed with primary invasive cutaneous malignant melanoma who underwent a DEB followed by a WLE between January 2010 and June 2011 within a secondary and tertiary referral centre was performed. Demographic data, clinico-pathological characteristics of the malignant lesions, as well as lentigo maligna lesions, and staging investigations were recorded.

  • The final sentence of paragraph 1 of the Results should read: Diagnostic Excision Biopsies of malignant melanoma were most commonly performed by a dermatologist (n = 47, 43.9 %) followed by the general surgeons (n = 31, 29 %) and plastic surgeons (n = 21, 19.6 %).

  • Paragraph 4 of the Results should read: The majority of melanomas were located on the limbs (lower > upper limbs) followed by the face and the back (Table 1). Dermatologists performed the majority of DEBs involving the face (57.14 %) with plastic and general surgeons performing 42.85 and 4.76 % respectively. General surgeons were more likely to excise more aggressive lesions on the trunk and limbs with the average rate of mitoses in this group being 8.66/mm2 compared with mitotic rates of 4.28 and 4.21/mm2 in the plastic surgery and dermatology groups respectively. There was no significant difference between groups with regard to Breslow thickness of the lesions excised. The anatomic location of the lesion predicted the SI, with lesions of the head and neck undergoing WLE 48 ± 32.3 days after DEB compared with 37.5 ± 22.6 days for all other sites (p = 0.001).

  • The third sentence of paragraph 1 of the Discussion should read: The incidence of melanoma in Ireland is amongst the highest in the European Union which is likely to be multi-factorial in nature, with Ireland having predominantly lighter skin types as well as relatively poor social awareness and the poorest access to Dermatology services in Europe.

  • The third sentence of paragraph 2 of the Discussion should read ‘British Association of Dermatology’ and not ‘British Society of Dermatology’.

  • Few sentences of paragraph 5 of the Discussion should read: The longer SI is likely explained by the fact that many of these cases were subsequently referred to a plastic or general surgeon especially where there was a larger, more aggressive or cosmetically challenging lesion requiring a more invasive or complex WLE. The inclusion of lentigo maligna lesions within the cohort is also likely to account for the significant difference between the two groups. It is interesting that general surgeons were more likely to be involved from an early stage in lesions with a high mitotic rate as shown by the fact that the average mitotic rate of lesions in cases where the general surgeon performed the DEB was 8.66/mm2 compared to 4.21/mm2 in cases where the DEB performed by a dermatologist. Again, the inclusion of lentigo maligna lesions within the cohort contributes significantly to this difference. It is likely that referral patterns in aggressive cases…

  • Abbreviations list:

    DEB:

    Diagnostic excision biopsy

    SI:

    Surgical interval

    WLE:

    Wide local excision

    OS:

    Overall survival

    DFS:

    Disease free survival