Malignant melanoma of the skin in children registered in the Swedish cancer registry during 1959-1971.
A clinical follow-up and histopathological reexamination of 26 cases originally diagnosed as malignant melanoma in children under 14 years of age registered in the Swedish Cancer Registry during 1959-1971 has been undertaken. Only one met current criteria of a malignant melanoma. This tumour occurred in a giant naevus in a 3-year-old girl, who died with widespread metastatic melanoma within a year. The other cases were reclassified as melanocytoma of Spitz, cellular blue naevus, compound naevus and neurofibroma. The results confirm that malignant melanoma is a rare tumour in prepubertal children. The risk for histophatological overdiagnosis is much higher in children (95%), than in adults (4%).
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008545:Melanoma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012867:Skin / Q000473:pathology; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D013548:Sweden