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Longitudinal study of prognostic factors for localized cutaneous melanoma in patients who have been disease-free for five years

  • Clinical Report
  • Published:
European Journal of Dermatology Aims and scope

Abstract

Background

Most relapses in melanoma patients occur during the first five years after diagnosis. Identifying characteristics associated with recurrence after this period could help delineate guidelines, specifically for follow-up protocols.

Objectives

The aim of this study was to identify the prognostic factors for relapse and death caused by melanoma in patients who have been disease-free for five years.

Materials & Methods

We designed a longitudinal retrospective cohort to study Stage I/II cutaneous melanoma patients who have been free of disease for more than five years (late relapse cohort). Prognostic factors for disease-free and melanoma-specific survival were evaluated using the Kaplan-Meier method and Cox regression models.

Results

A series of 746 patients who had Stage I-II cutaneous melanoma and were free of disease for five years was selected. After a median follow-up of 64 months (124 months since melanoma diagnosis), 51 (6.8%) patients relapsed and 18 (2.4%) died from melanoma. Acral location and presence of ulceration, as well as intermediate growth rate (0.11–0.50 mm/month), were significantly associated with relapse or death due to melanoma. The initial recurrence site was associated with distant metastasis in 48% of the cases.

Conclusion

In this study, we have identified melanoma characteristics in patients who have been disease-free for five years that may allow us to establish groups at increased risk of relapse or death due to melanoma, which could be helpful for melanoma management.

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Acknowledgments and disclosures

Acknowledgments: this study was supported partially by grant 2017-109-001 from the Universidad Católica de València. Conflicts of interest: none.

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Dermatology, Instituto Valenciano de Oncología, València, Spain

    Bernardo Bancalari, Celia Requena & Eduardo Nagore

  2. School of Medicine, Universidad Católica de Valencia, València, Spain

    Sonia Ferrer-Guillen & Eduardo Nagore

  3. Instituto Dermatológico GlobalDerm, Palma del Río, Spain

    Antonio Tejera-Vaquerizo

  4. Departments of Molecular Biology, Instituto Valenciano de Oncología, València, Spain

    Zaida García-Casado

  5. Pathology, Instituto Valenciano de Oncología, València, Spain

    Víctor Traves

  6. Division of Molecular Genetic Epidemiology, German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany

    Rajiv Kumar

Authors
  1. Bernardo Bancalari
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  2. Sonia Ferrer-Guillen
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  3. Antonio Tejera-Vaquerizo
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  4. Celia Requena
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  5. Zaida García-Casado
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  6. Víctor Traves
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  7. Rajiv Kumar
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  8. Eduardo Nagore
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Eduardo Nagore.

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Cite this article

Bancalari, B., Ferrer-Guillen, S., Tejera-Vaquerizo, A. et al. Longitudinal study of prognostic factors for localized cutaneous melanoma in patients who have been disease-free for five years. Eur J Dermatol 31, 192–198 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1684/ejd.2021.4022

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1684/ejd.2021.4022

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