Lentigo maligna melanoma has no better prognosis than other types of melanoma.

Authors:
  • HKH K Koh
    H K Koh
  • EME Michalik
    E Michalik
  • ASA J Sober
    A J Sober
  • RLR A Lew
    R A Lew
  • CDC L Day
    C L Day
  • WCW Clark
    W Clark
  • MMM C Mihm
    M C Mihm
  • AKA W Kopf
    A W Kopf
  • MBM S Blois
    M S Blois
  • TFT B Fitzpatrick
    T B Fitzpatrick
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Abstract
We studied 48 patients with lentigo maligna melanoma (LMM) and compared the clinical stage I patients with non-LMM melanoma patients (matched by site and thickness) to see if prognosis differed. There was no significant difference in mortality from melanoma between the two groups (P = .68) after a mean follow-up time of five years (67.5 months for LMM, 60.5 months for non-LMM). In addition, a Cox multivariate analysis of the entire matched group showed that only thickness was significantly associated with death from melanoma (P = .0007) while histology (LMM v non-LMM) did not make a significant contribution (P = .61). Our data suggest that after accounting for primary tumor thickness and site, LMM and non-LMM have the same prognosis and biologic behavior, in contrast to the widely held belief that LMM has a better prognosis than other forms of melanoma.

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