Clinical and sociodemographic profile of patients with cutaneous melanoma attended at an oncology referral hospital in Florianópolis between 2013 and 2017

Abstract

Introduction: Cutaneous melanoma is the most lethal skin cancer and its incidence has significantly increased in recent years. In particular, Florianópolis is the Brazilian capital with the highest incidence of the disease. Objective: To investigate the clinical and sociodemographic profile of patients with cutaneous melanoma treated at a public oncology referral hospital in Florianópolis from 2013 to 2017. Methods: This is a descriptive and cross-sectional study carried out at the Santa Catarina Oncology Research Center (Centro de Pesquisas Oncológicas -CEPON). It included 468 patients diagnosed with melanoma skin cancer (ICD-O, 3 rd edition C44 -skin melanoma) evaluated between 2013 and 2017.Data collection was performed by accessing the hospital cancer registry and electronic and physical medical records. The data were plotted in a Windows Excel spreadsheet and analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software. Results: There was a slight predominance of females, white-skinned, with a mean age of 54.3 years old at the time of diagnosis. The most prevalent primary tumor site was the trunk. Superficial spreading melanoma was the most frequent condition, and ulceration was absent in most cases. Clinical stage IV was the most common, and lungs and bronchi were the main metastasis sites. The most performed treatment was wide local excision and the most widely used systemic therapy was chemotherapy. Conclusion: This study characterized the sociodemographic and clinical profile of patients diagnosed with cutaneous melanoma and treated at a referral hospital in the Brazilian capital with the highest skin cancer rates.