Male sex, Breslow thickness predictive factors for melanoma recurrence in Korean patients

Source: Healio, November 2019

In Korean patients, male sex and Breslow thickness greater than 2.5 mm are the most important prognostic factors for localized melanoma recurrence, according research in Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.

“In our study, recurrence of localized melanoma showed no relevance to age or presence of ulceration, but was associated with sex,” Yeongjoo Oh, MD, of the department of dermatology, Cutaneous Biology Research Institute at Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, and colleagues wrote.

Medical records were reviewed at a single hospital in the Yonsei University Health System for patients diagnosed with cutaneous malignant melanoma. Eligible patients visited the clinic for more than 6 months after the primary melanoma removal. Sentinel lymph node biopsy was performed in patients with Breslow thickness of at least 1 mm. After complete removal, high-dose adjuvant interferon-alpha was administered to those with stage IIB and IIC when appropriate.