Cutaneous melanoma in Turkey: Analysis of 1157 patients in the Melanoma Turkish Study

Abstract

Purpose: To develop a large Turkish National Melanoma registry in order to define demographic and clinicopathologic characteristics of patients with melanoma. Methods: The data was collected from 1635 patients with melanoma through a web-based registry system in 22 centers. Herein we present the results of 1157 patients with cutaneous melanoma. Results: The patient median age was 56.4 years and 646 (55.8%) were males. The commonest subtype was superficial spreading type (357, 30.9%). The commonest primary site was the lower extremities (N=353, 30.5%). The most common Breslow thickness was 1-2 mm (361 patients, 43.5%). Only 104 (12.5%) patients had a thickness <lmm. Among 694 patients with available data, 136 (19.6%) presented with stage 4 disease while the most frequent stage was stage 3, encountered in 393 (56.6% patients). Conclusion: Our melanoma registry is the largest in our country providing a snapshot view of cutaneous melanoma and its care. Our patients presented with more advanced stages and they had worse prognosis compared to SEER database.