STAGING AND PROGNOSIS OF MELANOMA

Prognosis and survival for patients diagnosed with melanoma depends on a number of interrelated factors, including histological, clinical, i mmunologic, and surgical parameters, Tumor thickness and depth of inva sion is the most important prognostic factor, and helps to guide treat ment and management plans, Besides tumor thickness, other histological criteria include melanoma growth phase (nodal v. vertical), host resp onse, angiolymphatic invasion, mitotic rate, regression, satellitosis, and neurotropism. Important clinical prognostic factors include anato mic location of the melanoma and the patient's age and sex, Surgical f actors to be examined involve excisional margin size, and elective lym ph node dissection. Finally, the staging of patients with melanomas (n odal or visceral metastases) helps to define survival. Copyright (C) 1 997 by W.B. Saunders Company.