Is the survival rate for acral melanoma actually worse than other cutaneous melanomas?

Abstract

It is still not clear whether the survival rate for acral melanoma (AM) is better or worse than that of cutaneous melanoma developed at other sites. We sought to evaluate the difference in survival depending on the primary tumor site of cutaneous melanoma. We retrospectively reviewed primary cutaneous melanoma cases diagnosed at Samsung Medical Center, a tertiary institution in Korea, from January 1995 to July 2017. The cohort consisted of 642 patients, with 389 non‐acral cutaneous melanoma (NACM) patients and 253 AM patients. The AM patients had a higher percentage of stage 0 diagnoses than the NACM patients (31.6% vs 6.9%, respectively). The factors associated with overall survival were primary tumor site, sex, age, American Joint Committee on Cancer stage, surgery and medical treatment (P < 0.05). Non‐acral sites showed worse survival in multivariable analysis (hazard ratio [HR], 1.457; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.051–2.020; P = 0.0240). Among the NACM, melanomas on the trunk were associated with a higher risk of mortality compared with AM (HR, 1.883; 95% CI, 1.142–3.107; P = 0.0131). Acral melanoma was associated with a better prognosis than non‐acral melanoma, specifically when located on the trunk, in Korean patients.

Prognostic Significance of Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Expression in Distant Metastatic Melanoma from Primary Cutaneous Melanoma

“…The frequency of primary cutaneous melanoma location was highest in the acral area (n=24, 43.6%), followed by the extremities (n=14, 25.5%), trunk area (n=7, 12.7%), head and neck area (n=7, 12.7%), and inguinal area (n=3, 5.5%) ( Table 1 ). This is the result in line with the previous study revealing cutaneous melanoma in Korea is most common in acral area 21 . Furthermore, 12 cases (21.8%) had ulcerations on the cutaneous lesion.…”

A single-cell analysis reveals tumor heterogeneity and immune environment of acral melanoma

“…This finding was exemplified by the better overall survival of AM patients as compared with the CM. Study from Lim and colleagues also reported that the overall survival of AM was better than that of non-acral melanomas based on a single instiution study in Korea 18 . Thus, we suggest that the melanoma tumor cell heterogeneity which is characterized by the different signatures might has prognostic significance, regardless of the tumor types of AM or CM.…”

A single-cell atlas reveals tumor heterogeneity and immune environment of acral melanoma

“…This finding was exemplified by the better overall survival of AM patients as compared with the CM. Study from Lim and colleagues also reported that the overall survival of AM was better than that of nonacral melanomas based on a single instiution study in Korea 18 . Thus, we suggest that the melanoma tumor cell heterogeneity which is characterized by the different signatures might has prognostic significance, regardless of the tumor types of AM or CM.…”