Survival rates for invasive cutaneous malignant melanoma in South Korea in accordance with the Eighth edition AJCC Cancer Staging Manual: A retrospective single center study

Background Cutaneous malignant melanoma is known to have a poorer prognosis in Asian patients as compared to Caucasians. Few studies have analysed the overall survival rate (OS) and melanoma-specific survival rate (MSS) of patients with cutaneous malignant melanoma in South Korea. Aim This study aims to analyse the OS, MSS and prognostic factors of patients with invasive cutaneous malignant melanoma in South Korea. Methods The medical records of patients diagnosed with invasive cutaneous malignant melanoma from July 2006 to June 2016 at Kyungpook National University Hospital were reviewed retrospectively. The OS/MSS of these patients were calculated in accordance with the Eighth American Joint Committee on Center staging system and the prognostic factors affecting MSS were analysed. Results A total of 202 patients with a mean age of 61.5 years were included. The 5-year OS/MSS was 64.4%/70.7% in the patients. The 5-year OS/MSS was 94.7%/97.1% for stage I, 67.2%/76.3% for stage II, 54.4%/59.1% for stage III, and 0%/0% for stage IV. On univariate analysis, the age, sex, Breslow thickness, ulceration, microsatellites, satellites, locally recurrent or in-transit metastasis, tumour metastasis in sentinel lymph nodes and clinicopathological stage were all significantly associated with the MSS, but not with acral distribution or BRAF mutation status. However, on multivariate analysis only the Breslow thickness, ulceration and stage IV were significantly associated with the MSS. Limitations This study was conducted retrospectively in a relatively small number of patients at a single tertiary center in South Korea. Conclusions The OS/MSS of patients with invasive cutaneous malignant melanoma in South Korea was lower than those in Caucasians. In addition to the Breslow thickness and ulceration, the impact of tumour location and sentinel nodal metastasis on cutaneous malignant melanoma should be reevaluated to better understand the disease prognosis in these patients.