SURVIVAL AND PROGNOSTIC FACTORS IN PATIENTS WITH LOCALIZED CUTANEOUS MELANOMA OBSERVED BETWEEN 1980 AND 1991 AT THE ISTITUTO-DERMOPATICO-DELLIMMACOLATA IN ROME, ITALY

530 patients with localised cutaneous melanoma consecutively observed between 1980 and 1991 at a hospital for skin diseases in Pome, Italy, were studied. Crude survival proportions were calculated with the meth od of Kaplan and Meier. Cox proportional hazards regression analysis w as used to estimate the effect of prognostic factors on death rates. F emales and younger patients had better 5- and 10-year survival rates, while increasing tumour thickness was associated with a decrease in su rvival time. In the multivariate analysis, an independent association with survival was found for tumour thickness, presence of ulceration, age, sex and cross-sectional profile of neoplasia. Our study confirms that females and young patients with thin melanomas have a better prog nosis, while the importance of cross-sectional profile needs further s tudy.