Lentigo maligna melanoma has no better prognosis than other types of melanoma.
We studied 48 patients with lentigo maligna melanoma (LMM) and compared the clinical stage I patients with non-LMM melanoma patients (matched by site and thickness) to see if prognosis differed. There was no significant difference in mortality from melanoma between the two groups (P = .68) after a mean follow-up time of five years (67.5 months for LMM, 60.5 months for non-LMM). In addition, a Cox multivariate analysis of the entire matched group showed that only thickness was significantly associated with death from melanoma (P = .0007) while histology (LMM v non-LMM) did not make a significant contribution (P = .61). Our data suggest that after accounting for primary tumor thickness and site, LMM and non-LMM have the same prognosis and biologic behavior, in contrast to the widely held belief that LMM has a better prognosis than other forms of melanoma.
D000206:Actuarial Analysis; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005121:Extremities; D005260:Female; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007911:Lentigo / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D008297:Male; D008545:Melanoma / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery