Features: PDF Only

Malignant Melanoma Prognostic Factors 3: Surgical Margins

DAY, CALVIN L. JR. M.D.¹; LEW, ROBERT A. Ph.D.²

¹ Clinical Assistant Professor, Division of Dermatology, The University of Texas Medical School at San Antonio, Texas.

² Computer Scientist/Statistician, Department of Neurology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts.

Address reprint requests to Calvin, L. Day, Jr., M.D., South Texas Medical Center, Oak Hills Medical Building, Suite 104, 7711 Louis Pasteur Drive, San Antonio, TX 78229.

Supported in part by The Skin Cancer Foundation, 475 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016.

The Journal of Dermatologic Surgery and Oncology 9(10):p 797-801, October 1983. | DOI: 10.1111/j.1524-4725.1983.tb00733.x

Buy

Abstract

Narrow margins of excision for melanomas less than 0.85 mm thick neither shorten the length of survival nor increase the local recurrence rate. Similarly, narrow margins of excision for melanomas greater than 0.85 mm thick do not adversely affect the survival rate. However, for thicker melanomas, the local recurrence rate increases when the surgical margin is reduced to less than 3 cm.