Prognosis of malignant melanoma
As with any disease, early diagnosis and treatment is associated with a far better prognosis that late discovery. Once the tumor metastasizes, survival rates fall sharply. Metastatic Melanoma survival rates are as follows:
- Melanoma at one site only: 98.4% survival rate.
- Melanoma that has spread to the local lymph nodes: 63.6% survival rate.
- Melanoma that has metastasized to distant body parts: 22.5% survival rate.
Survival rates refer to the ability of the patient to live for at least 5 years after the diagnosis has been made, hence they are more properly called “5-year survival rates”.
The impact of lymph node involvement on the prognosis depends on the number of nodes affected, and the size of the tumor tissue inside the nodes, whether it can be seen by the naked eye or if it needs a powerful microscope to visualize. Obviously, the smaller the tumor deposits the better.
Metastatic Melanoma life expectancy drops precipitously when metastases are involved, reaching an average of 6 to 12 months. Metastasis to the brain or liver is particularly bad, while metastasis to the lungs or skin is associated with a better prognosis.
Other factors that can influence the prognosis include the size of the tumor, the histological type of the melanoma, detected by examining the lesion under a microscope after a tissue biopsy. Also the thickness of the tumor, ulceration or bleeding at the site of the lesion, and the level of the tumor marker lactic acid dehydrogenase (LDH) in the blood.
Conditions that lower a person’s immunity, such as organ transplantation or being infected with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) also worsen the prognosis, as does being older than 70 years.
On the other hand, factors that increase the likelihood of a good prognosis include being female, being young, and having the lesion on the limbs rather than the trunk.
