Background: There are very limited studies on survival analyses of malignant melanoma from the rural and southern part of India and hence we present our retrospective analyses on treatment outcomes of patients diagnosed as Malignant Melanoma from our institution.
Objectives: To calculate the median overall survival [OS] and median Disease Free Survival [DFS] of patients with malignant melanoma diagnosed and treated at our institution.
Patients and methods: Between 2014 and 2022, histologically confirmed patients with malignant melanoma were included and were followed up for the survival analysis.
Results: There were 107 patients analyzed with a median age of 58 years [range 29-85 years], gender wise male patients were 64.5% [n=69] and female patients were 35.5%[n=38]. The most common primary site was extremities 65.4% [n=70]. The median follow up duration of patients was 12 months [range: 1-36 months]. Most commonly patients presented with stage IV disease 52.3% [n=56]. Patients that underwent surgery were 51% [n=55]. Median disease free survival for these patients was 23 months [95% CI-18-28 months]. Median overall survival for the entire group of patients at the end of 3 years was 9 months [95% CI-5.6-13 months].
Conclusion: Malignant melanoma is the most aggressive cutaneous malignancy ever to be discovered by mankind. The battle for cure is far from over and requires an even more aggressive strategy to meagerly improve the outcomes for these patients.