title: Acral Melanoma in Chinese: A Clinicopathological and Prognostic Study of 142 cases.
abstract: Acral melanoma (AM), as a peculiar subgroup of melanoma, is rare in Caucasians but has higher incidence in Asians. Large series of study on AM with clinicopathological features and prognostic factors is still limited, especially in Asian population. We retrospectively collected clinical, pathological and follow-up data of 142 AM cases. All patients were Chinese, with the age ranging from 24 to 87 years (mean 62.0; median 62.0). The Breslow thickness of primary lesions ranged from 0.6 to 16.3 mm (mean 4.9; median 3.7). 85.9% of the patients had acral lentiginous histologic subtype. Plantar was the most frequently involved site, followed by heels. Statistically, duration of the lesion before diagnosis (≤2.5 years), Breslow thickness >4.0 mm (T4), high mitotic index (>15 mm(-2)), presence of vascular invasion, regional lymph node metastasis at diagnosis and pathologic stage (II/III/IV) were found to be independent prognostic factors in both univariate and multivariate analyses. The prognosis of AM in Chinese is extremely poor. Our 5- and 10-year disease-specific survival (DSS) rates were 53.3% and 27.4%, respectively. Therefore, AM in Asians represents a more biologically aggressive melanoma subtype and is thought to carry a worse prognosis when compared with other races or cutaneous melanomas in other anatomic sites.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.|Department of Oncology, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jiaojie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lv
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.|Department of Urology, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Dai
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.|Department of Oncology, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yunyi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kong
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.|Department of Oncology, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xuxia
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, First People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jincheng
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kong
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D044466:Asian People; D002681:China; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008545:Melanoma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D055815:Young Adult