Wider surgical margins needed for thicker primary cutaneous melanoma

Source: Healio.com/hematology-oncology, January 2016

A narrow excision margin appeared to increase risk for melanoma-specific death among patients with cutaneous melanoma on the trunk and/or limbs with a Breslow thickness greater than 2 mm, according to findings of a randomized, open-label multicenter trial.

“This long-term survival analysis of a randomized trial of 1 cm vs. 3 cm excision margins for melanomas greater than 2 mm in thickness has shown that a 1 cm margin is detrimental to a 3 cm margin in terms of melanoma-specific survival,” Andrew J. Hayes, MA(Oxon), MBBS, FRCS (Gen), PhD, a consultant general surgeon and surgical oncologist at the Royal Marsden Hospital National Health Foundation Trust in London, told HemOnc Today. “Although this did not translate into a significant effect in OS in this cohort, this result will be particularly pertinent to younger patients for whom the competing effects of death from other causes will be less.”

Previous data from the current trial — evaluated after a median follow-up of 5 years — showed narrow excision margins increased the frequency of locoregional relapse, without significantly affecting OS, among patients with thick cutaneous melanomas.