Survival in patients with uveal melanoma in Europe.
OBJECTIVE
To estimate survival in patients in whom uveal melanoma was diagnosed between January 1, 1983, and December 31, 1994, in Europe.


METHODS
Survival analysis of data from 32 cancer registries in 16 European countries adhering to the European Cancer Registry for 5788 patients with uveal melanoma diagnosed between January 1, 1983, and December 31, 1994, with follow-up to 1999.


RESULTS
Five-year relative survival was 68.9% overall and remained stable with the period of diagnosis. Relative excess risk of death was 2.45 (95% confidence interval [CI], 2.10-2.86) in patients aged 75 years or older compared with patients aged 54 years or younger and was slightly higher in male patients (relative excess risk, 1.10; 95% CI, 1.02-1.19) than in female patients. Survival was similar in Nordic countries (relative excess risk, 1.03; 95% CI, 0.87-1.21) compared with the United Kingdom (reference country) and was lower in eastern and western European countries (1.26; 1.05-1.52, and 1.25; 0.90-1.60, respectively) compared with the reference country.


CONCLUSIONS
In this large series of patients with uveal melanoma, 5-year relative survival remained stable with the introduction of conservative treatment in individuals in whom uveal melanoma was diagnosed between 1983 and 1994. We found differences in survival between sexes and in European areas that should be investigated in studies that consider tumor characteristics at the individual level.
Department of Oto-Neuro-Ophthalmological Surgical Sciences, University of Florence, Viale Morgagni 85, Florence 50134, Italy. gianni.virgili@unifi.it
Gianni
G
Virgili
Gemma
G
Gatta
Laura
L
Ciccolallo
Riccardo
R
Capocaccia
Annibale
A
Biggeri
Emanuele
E
Crocetti
Jean-Michel
JM
Lutz
Eugenio
E
Paci
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002423:Cause of Death; D015331:Cohort Studies; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005060:Europe / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D038801:International Classification of Diseases; D008297:Male; D008545:Melanoma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000401:mortality* / Q000628:therapy; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011336:Probability; D011379:Prognosis; D012042:Registries; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D017678:Sex Distribution; D016019:Survival Analysis; D014604:Uveal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000401:mortality* / Q000628:therapy