Biopsy-based clinical and histopathological characterization of cutaneous malignant melanoma

Abstract

Background: The incidence of cutaneous melanoma has increased in recent decades, becoming a major cause of death worldwide. The objective was to characterize melanomas histologically and to determine the incidence based on the results of the biopsies of the Pathology Department of the San Rafael de Alajuela Hospital.
Methods: We conducted a review of each of the biopsies diagnosed as cutaneous melanoma with hematoxylin and eosin from January 2009 until December 2012 to determine their histological features. Simple frequencies were obtained for all variables and measures of central tendency and dispersion for the qualitative variables.
Results: A total of 28 cutaneous malignant melanomas were diagnosed, of which 16 occurred in male patients. The average age at presentation was 57.0 years and the most frequent location was the back and face. The superficial spreading melanoma is the predominant histologic type. In 15 cases, vertical invasion was found. In 21.1% of the cases the patients had Clark level III and Breslow thickness ranged from 0.20 to 8.00 mm. The predominant type was epithelioid cell morphology. Other histopathological variables such as mitotic count, vascular invasion, perineural invasion or ulceration were less frequently found.
Conclusions: Malignant melanoma occurs predominantly in male patients in their fifth decade of life; mainly in back and face. The most common histological type was superficial spreading melanoma.