Impact of the 2009 AJCC staging guidelines for melanoma on the number of mitotic figures reported by dermatopathologists at one institution

Abstract

There was not a significant difference in the number of mitoses reported after the implementation of the new guidelines.

Mitotic rate is associated with positive lymph nodes in patients with thin melanomas

“…One single center study found that 29% of cases were changed between T1a and T1b; all of those with positive lymph nodes were listed as T1b in both staging schemes 27 . Another single-center study observed a non-significant decrease in thin melanomas with an elevated mitotic rate after the adoption of the 2010 guidelines 28 . Thus a criticism of the addition of mitotic rate to the staging criteria was that it did no better at identifying high-risk thin melanomas.…”

Genetic variants of SDCCAG8 and MAGI2 in mitosis‐related pathway genes are independent predictors of cutaneous melanoma‐specific survival

“…In the AJCC updated edition, therefore, the mitotic rate was demonstrated not to be a valid independent prognostic variable in a multivariate analysis for predicting CMSS 10 . This inconsistency may be due not only to the misuse of mitotic rate count as a cut‐off dichotomous variable, but it is also rooted in the difficulty of accurately measuring mitosis rate in CM tumor tissue 8,28‐31 . In the present study, we investigated the prognostic value of genetic surrogates for mitosis in CM by analyzing associations between SNPs in mitosis‐related pathway genes and CMSS, instead of using direct assessment for the mitosis rate in CM tissues.…”

“… 10 This inconsistency may be due not only to the misuse of mitotic rate count as a cut‐off dichotomous variable, but it is also rooted in the difficulty of accurately measuring mitosis rate in CM tumor tissue. 8 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 In the present study, we investigated the prognostic value of genetic surrogates for mitosis in CM by analyzing associations between SNPs in mitosis‐related pathway genes and CMSS, instead of using direct assessment for the mitosis rate in CM tissues. Although databases used in the present study included limited records of 1267 Caucasian CM patients, we identified two independent SNPs as independent prognostic determinants of CMSS in a multivariate analysis with adjustment for available multi‐clinical covariates as well as 40 previously published survival‐associated SNPs.…”