Metastatic behavior in melanoma: Timing,pattern,survival,and influencing factors

Metastatic melanoma (mm) is a fatal disease with a rapid systemic dissemination. this study was conducted to investigate the metastatic behavior,timing,patterns,survival,and influencing factors in mm. 214 patients with mm were evaluated retrospectively. distant metastases (82%) were the most frequent for patients initially metastatic. the median and 1-year survival rates of initially mm patients were 10 months and 41%,respectively. the median time to metastasis for patients with localized disease was 28 months. the timing of appearance of metastases varied minimally; however,times to metastases for distant organs varied greatly. for the first metastatic pathway,more than half of the primary metastases were m1a (57%). these findings were in contrast to the results compared with those with metastatic in diagnosis (p < 0. 001). the median and 1-year survival rates of all patients were 12 months and 49,respectively. outcome was higher in m1a than visceral metastases (p < 0. 001). in conclusion,the fact that over half of all recurrences/metastases occurred within 3 years urges us to concentrate follow-up in the early time periods following diagnosis. because the clinical behavior of mm is variable,the factors for survival consisting of site and number of metastases should be emphasized. © copyright 2012 faruk tas.