title: Multicenter evaluation of patients with cutaneous malignant melanoma in Turkey: MELAS study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Malignant melanoma is a cancer that demonstrates rapid progression and atypical clinically features with a poor prognosis.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study was performed to determine the clinical characteristics and treatment outcomes of patients with malignant melanoma in Turkey.
  
  
  METHODS
  The medical records of 98 patients between 2007- 2012 at our centers were retrieved from the patient registry. Overall survival (OS) was calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In our study, with the median follow-up of all patients with cutaneous MM of 46.3 months, the median OS rate of all cases was 43.6 months and 5-year OS was 48.6%. However, five-year OS rates of patients with localized disease (stage I-II) and node involvement (stage III) were 60.3% and 39.6%, respectively. The median OS of stage IV patients was 8.7 months and 1-year OS rate was 26.2%. We showed that advanced stage, male gender, and advanced age in all patients with MM were significant prognostic factors of OS.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Compared with the results of current studies from Western countries, we found similar findings concerning demographical features, histological variables and survival analyses for our patients with cutaneous MM in Turkey.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Sakarya University Education and Research Hospital, Sakarya, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ozlem
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Uysal-Sonmez
authors.forename: Ozgur
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Tanriverdi
authors.forename: Onur
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Esbah
authors.forename: Ummugul
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Uyeturk
authors.forename: Kaan
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Helvaci
authors.forename: Oznur
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Bal
authors.forename: Ulku
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Yalcintas-Arslan
authors.forename: Burcin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Budakoglu
authors.forename: Berna
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Oksuzoglu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D017024:Chemotherapy, Adjuvant; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D008545:Melanoma / Q000556:secondary* / Q000628:therapy*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D010166:Palliative Care; D018714:Radiotherapy, Adjuvant; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012737:Sex Factors; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy*; D015996:Survival Rate; D014421:Turkey