title: Primary cutaneous melanoma. Identification of prognostic groups and estimation of individual prognosis for 5093 patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Numerous investigations have examined prognostic factors for patients with primary cutaneous melanoma. However, only a few studies have been published on the definition of prognostic groups. The first aim of the present study was to determine the relative importance of different prognostic factors in a large collective study. The second aim was to define prognostic groups of patients based on combinations of prognostic factors and to define a model that allows the estimation of individual survival probability.
  
  
  METHODS
  Long term follow-up of 5264 patients with invasive primary cutaneous melanoma was performed from 1970 to 1988 at four German University Departments of Dermatology (Berlin-Steglitz, Münster-Hornheide, Tübingen, and Würzburg). The multivariate Cox model was used to analyze 5093 patients, and 4371 patients with complete information were included in a classification and regression tree analysis (CART).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Tumor thickness, sex, anatomic location, and level of invasion were highly significant prognostic factors according to the multivariate analysis (P < 0.0001). However, histologic subtype and age influenced prognosis less significantly (P < 0.05). The CART analysis resulted in 12 groups defined mainly by tumor thickness, sex, and anatomic location, which were combined into five prognostic groups. The prognostic stratification defined by the five groups was superior compared with the standard TNM model. Ten-year survival rates of the five groups ranged from 97% to 14% (P < 0.0001), and an equation was used to calculate individual survival probabilities based on the significant factors of the Cox model.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Consideration of all significant prognostic factors of patients with primary cutaneous melanoma investigated in the present study allows for the definition of prognostic groups with a more reliable estimation of prognosis than by previous staging systems and also enables calculation of individual survival probabilities.
authors.affiliation: University Department of Dermatology, Steglitz Medical Center, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Garbe
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Büttner
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bertz
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Burg
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: d'Hoedt
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Drepper
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Guggenmoos-Holzmann
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Lechner
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lippold
authors.forename: C E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Orfanos
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008545:Melanoma / Q000145:classification / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011336:Probability; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012737:Sex Factors; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000145:classification / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology; D015996:Survival Rate