The National Cancer Registry, which has been running since 1999 in Hungary, supplies more and more precise data about the growing incidence of malignant melanoma although nationwide melanoma database currently does not exist. As in the National Institute of Oncology a notable percentage of patients (20-25%) were treated with newly diagnosed melanoma, conclusions may be drawn for the efficacy of primary prevention for the whole country.
Methods: The recent study compares the data of patients presented in the Institute with cutaneous malignant melanoma in 1998 and ten years later, in 2008. The histology parameters of tumors were also analyzed. The two groups were compared according to age, gender, localization and histology parameters (histological types Breslow and Clark numbers). In case of continuous variables the Mann-Whitney test were used to determine significant differences. Categorical variables were checked by χ2 test.
Results: 149 and 377 cutaneous melanomas were diagnosed in 1998 and in 2008, respectively, which accounts for 153% increase in ten years. The mean age of patients was 56.3 and 57.2 years in 1998 and in 2008, respectively. The per cent of males was 43% in 1998 and 49% in 2008. Trunk was the most frequent localization in both years: 39% and 46%, then lower limbs (28% and 22%), upper limbs (21% and 18%) and the head and neck region (12% and 14%). Superficial melanoma was found the most frequent histological type (52 and 54%) followed by nodular melanoma (31% and 23%). Rate of in situ melanoma changed from 10% to 15%. The mean of Breslow numbers was 2.2 mm in 1998 and 1.6 mm in 2008, the difference was highly significant (p = 0.0002). Clark numbers were also decreasing, although the difference was not significant (p = 0.08). The majority of patients were presented with Clark III depth melanoma in both years (38% and 32%).
Conclusions: It seems that forces emphasizing the importance of early recognition in medical education and in media are not futile considering that principally the early diagnosis can improve the melanoma's prognosis - which is represented mainly by Breslow tumor depth.