Patterns of failure in patients with cutaneous head and neck melanoma.

INTRODUCTION: The incidence of head and neck melanoma is increasing. Various factors influence prognosis.

OBJECTIVE: We sought to investigate the subgroup of patients with head and neck melanoma who fail primary treatment and to define the patterns of failure.

METHODS: The database of a tertiary medical center was reviewed for patients diagnosed and surgically treated for cutaneous head and neck melanoma in 1995-2014. Regional disease failure was defined as disease confirmed in positive SLNB at first assessment or at recurrence.

RESULTS: The cohort included 141 patients followed for a median duration of 6.8 years (range 1-20 years). Median tumor thickness was 2.1 mm (range 0.5-12 mm). Ulceration was documented in 38 patients (26.9%). Sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) was positive in 18 patients (12.8%). Total disease failure rate was 32.6% with similar rates of regional (n = 26, 18.4%) and distal (n = 22, 15.6%) failure. Most patients (86.3%) with systemic recurrence had a negative SNLB as did 6/26 patients (23%) with regional failure. Forty-three patients (30.4%) died during follow-up, half of them (23 patients, 16.3%) of melanoma. On multivariate analysis, Breslow thickness was the only significant predictor of outcome.

CONCLUSIONS: The pattern of treatment failure in patients with head and neck melanoma relate predominantly to Breslow thickness. The high false-negative rate of SNLB and the relatively high rate of systemic failures in patients with negative SNLB indicate a low predictive value of this procedure. Efforts to detect systemic disease during follow-up need to be intensified.