Malignant melanoma prognostic factors 3: surgical margins.
Narrow margins of excision for melanomas less than 0.85 mm thick neither shorten the length of survival nor increase the local recurrence rate. Similarly, narrow margins of excision for melanomas greater than 0.85 mm thick do not adversely affect the survival rate. However, for thicker melanomas, the local recurrence rate increases when the surgical margin is reduced to less than 3 cm.
D006801:Humans; D008545:Melanoma / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D016038:Skin Transplantation; D013536:Suture Techniques