title: [Desmoplastic melanoma: a study of 23 cases at 3 centres in the Bouches-du-Rhône region].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Desmoplastic melanoma (DM) is a rare form of melanoma, often with atypical and potentially misleading aspects that result in difficult and late diagnosis. Because of the high likelihood of local relapse, practitioners must have a good knowledge of such tumours.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective study of the activities of 3 centres in the Bouches-du-Rhône region between 1998 and 2010 enabled us to collate 23 cases of DM and analyse the clinical and histological features of the disease as well as patient survival.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Fifteen of the 23 patients (65.2%) were male with a median age of 64.4 years. Mean Breslow thickness was 7.56 mm. The numbers of AJCC (American Joint Committee for Cancer) stages I, II, III, IV were respectively 4.1, 66.7, 20.8 and 4.1%. Thirteen patients presented relapse, with a mean time to onset of 21 months. The initial relapse involved the skin in 1 case, the lymph nodes in 2 cases, the organs in 5 cases, the organs and subcutaneous region in 1 case, the organs and lymph nodes in 2 cases, and the organs, lymph nodes and skin in 1 case.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  While DM presents a higher rate of local relapse than classical melanoma, this trend appears to subside in the case of thick DM, in which relapse also involves the lymph nodes and/or organs.
authors.affiliation: Service de dermatologie, hôpital militaire Saint-Anne, 2, boulevard Sainte-Anne, 83800 Toulon cedex 9, France. Electronic address: solene.lorcy@gmail.com.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lorcy
authors.affiliation: Service de dermatologie, hôpital Nord, chemin des Bourrely, 13915 Marseille cedex 20, France.
authors.forename: M-C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Koeppel
authors.affiliation: Service de dermatologie, hôpital de la Timone, CHU, 264, rue Saint-Pierre, 13385 Marseille cedex 5, France.
authors.forename: M-A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Richard
authors.affiliation: Service de dermatologie, hôpital de la Timone, CHU, 264, rue Saint-Pierre, 13385 Marseille cedex 5, France.
authors.forename: J-J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Grob
authors.affiliation: Service de dermatologie, hôpital Nord, chemin des Bourrely, 13915 Marseille cedex 20, France.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Berbis
authors.affiliation: Service de dermatologie, hôpital militaire Saint-Anne, 2, boulevard Sainte-Anne, 83800 Toulon cedex 9, France.
authors.forename: J-J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Morand
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D057210:Delayed Diagnosis / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005602:France / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008545:Melanoma / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000556:secondary; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000453:epidemiology; D009367:Neoplasm Staging / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016609:Neoplasms, Second Primary / Q000453:epidemiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology; D015996:Survival Rate
keywords: Anatomo-pathologie; Chirurgie; Desmoplastic; Desmoplastique; Histopathology; Local relapse; Melanoma; Mélanome; Récidive locale; Surgery