Dados do Trabalho

Título

CLINICO-PATHOLOGICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF PATIENTS WITH MELANOMA TREATED IN A SINGLE INSTITUTION IN THE SOUTH OF BRAZIL

Introdução

Melanoma accounts for less than 5% of skin cancers, and is responsible for approximately 75% of deaths. Incidence is increasing worldwide in the last decades. In Brazil, 5,670 new cases are estimated per year, resulting in 1,547 deaths. Biologically, melanoma is characterized by a high propensity to metastasize into low tumor volumes, requiring the need for effective drug therapies to support prevention and early detection efforts to reduce mortality. Metastatic melanoma has a poor prognosis. New therapeutic strategies have improved survival for patients with advanced melanoma in recent years: immunotherapy and target therapies. However, the target therapies and immunotherapy still have a high cost and are not widely available in the public health system. Interestingly, few data is available about melanoma patients in Brazil.

Objetivo

To describe clinical-pathological characteristics and clinical outcome of patients with melanoma treated at São Lucas Hospital, PUCRS, an institution treating a large proportion of patients from the public health system.

Método

Clinico-pathological characteristics and clinical outcomes were collected retrospectively and prospectively using standard templates.

Resultado

We analyzed data from 429 melanoma patients with a median follow-up of 4.6 years. Among them, 85% were from the public health system, 54% were female, median age was 58.4 years, 87.2% had no BRAF mutation testing. Out of tested patients, 67% were BRAF mutated and the LDH was normal in 87.5% patients. Median time from diagnosis to perform margin enlargement and sentinel lymph node was 4.2 months. The distribution of clinical stages (AJCC 8 edition) was: 7.9% 0, 25.7% IA, 8.6% IB, 9.8 IIA, 6.7% IIB, 10% IIC, 2.1% IIIA, 3.8% IIIB, 8.6% IIIC, 4.3% IIID and 12.6% IV. The survival rates at 1 and 5 years for stages I, II, III and IV were 100%, 97.1%, 98%, 91,9%, 98.5%, 71.9%, 87.4% and 69%, respectively.

Conclusão

To our knowledge this is the largest cohort of patients with melanoma treated in Brazil, especially in the public health system. We believe this information is extremely important to plan strategies to improve care management and clinical outcomes .

Palavras-chave

melanoma, epidemiological characterization, public health system