Cutaneous melanoma of the head and neck. A review of 399 cases.

A retrospective search of the Duke University Melanoma Clinic patients identified 399 cases with primary malignant melanoma located in the head and neck region. Ninety-five percent of the deaths in this series were from metastatic melanoma. Various clinical and pathological data were examined and their effects on survivability and disease-free intervals were evaluated. The characteristics noted included sex, age, depth of the invasion, thickness, site of the lesion, histologic type, and nodal status. A multivariate regression analysis identified the following factors as having a negative effect on survival: nodular histologic type, scalp primary, increasing Clark level, and male sex. In comparing head and neck, extremity, and truncal primary sites, the median survival for patients with head and neck malignant melanomas was notably less. These differences correlated with a higher incidence for male patients, for patients with thicker lesions, and for patients with an increased frequency of nodular histologic type.