8-Year-Survival in Malignant Melanoma Related to Sex and Tumor Location

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Abstract
1,322 melanoma patients in the clinical stage I were followed up for at least 8 years. The females clearly predominated (sex ratio f :m = 2.2:1). Trunk melanomas prevailed in males and extremity melanomas in females. The overall survival was strikingly better in females than in males. In 936 of the patients exhibiting ‘high risk’ melanomas, tumors located on the upper extremities and on the lower extremities gave the relatively best 8-year-survival rates (60.7% resp. 62.7%). 8-year-survival rates decreased if head (52.8%) and trunk locations (40.3%) were involved. As to these anatomic sites of the primary tumor, there were no statistically relevant differences between the survival rates of the females and the males. Thus, the anatomic site of malignant melanoma is especially important for the prognosis largely explaining the sex differences of the overall survival rates.