elanoma is one of the most common cancers in the US, with 106 110 incident cases estimated to be diagnosed in 2021. 1 Although the standard therapy for localized invasive melanoma is wide local excision, Mohs micrographic surgery (MMS) has been increasingly used as an alternative excisional approach, [2][3][4] with a recent study reporting that 7.9% of surgical melanoma cases in 2016 were excised using MMS. 5 Mohs micrographic surgery offers the advantage of complete margin evaluation during the procedure while potentially limiting healthy tissue removal. Such complete margin evaluation is especially helpful in the case of facial tumors, for which National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines state that margins may be reduced for anatomic considerations, or tumors with clinically indistinct borders, such as lentigo maligna melanoma, for which appropriate margins may be difficult to determine clinically. 2,6 Recent work suggests that treatment of early-stage (T1a-T2a category) melanoma with MMS is associated with a modest survival advantage compared with traditional wide local excision. 7 An additional consideration for the more technically complex MMS for melanoma procedure is how effectively it can be applied across centers. Although studies of resections for other cancers have reported that facility-level factors are associated with patient outcomes, it is not yet established how such factors may IMPORTANCE Early-stage melanoma, among the most common cancers in the US, is typically treated with wide local excision. However, recent advances in immunohistochemistry have led to an increasing number of these cases being excised via Mohs micrographic surgery (MMS). Although studies of resections for other cancers have reported that facility-level factors are associated with patient outcomes, it is not yet established how these factors may affect outcomes for patients treated with Mohs micrographic surgery.OBJECTIVE To evaluate the association of treatment center academic affiliation and case volume with long-term patient survival after MMS for T1a-T2a invasive melanoma.
DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTSIn a retrospective cohort study, 4062 adults with nonmetastatic, T1a-T2a melanoma diagnosed from 2004 to 2014 and treated with MMS in the National Cancer Database (NCDB) were identified. The NCDB includes all reportable cases from Commission on Cancer-accredited facilities and is estimated to capture approximately 50% of all incident melanomas in the US. Multivariable survival analyses were conducted using Cox proportional hazards models. Data analysis was conducted from February 27 to August 18, 2020.
EXPOSURES Treatment facility characteristics.MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Overall survival.
RESULTSThe study population included 4062 patients (2213 [54.5%] men; median [SD] age, 60 [16.3] years) treated at 462 centers. Sixty-two centers were top decile-volume facilities (TDVFs), which treated 1757 patients (61.9%). Most TDVFs were academic institutions (37 of 62 [59.7%]). On multivariable analysis, treatment at an aca...