TY - JOUR
T1 - Clinicopathologic presentation and natural history of anorectal melanoma
T2 - A case series of 18 patients
AU - Hicks, Caitlin W.
AU - Pappou, Emmanouil P.
AU - Magruder, Jonathan T.
AU - Gazer, Benny
AU - Fang, Sandy
AU - Wick, Elizabeth C.
AU - Gearhart, Susan L.
AU - Ahuja, Nita
AU - Efron, Jonathan E.
PY - 2014/6
Y1 - 2014/6
N2 - Anorectal melanoma is a rare malignant neoplasm with variable natural history and nonspecific presentation. We describe the clinicopathologic and prognostic parameters of a series of 18 patients (16 [88.9%] white; 10 [55.6%] male; median age, 64.0 years [interquartile range, 45.8-74.3 years]) with histologically proven anorectal melanoma treated at our institution during a 21-year period between October 1991 and August 2012. Late diagnosis was common (44.5% of patients had stage II disease or worse at diagnosis), likely owing to a delay in presentation, nonspecific presenting symptoms, and frequent incorrect diagnoses (16 cases [88.9%]). Overall disease-specific mortality was 66.7% (12 of 18 patients), with a median time to death of 15.5 months (interquartile range, 7.3-25.5 months). Disease-specific survival was significantly better following wide local excision vs abdominoperineal resection (P = .04), although patients undergoing the former tended to have fewer rectal lesions (P = .04), smaller lesions (P = .02), and a trend toward less advanced stage (P = .06). Larger studies assessing optimal medical and surgical management for anorectal melanoma are needed to improve outcomes.
AB - Anorectal melanoma is a rare malignant neoplasm with variable natural history and nonspecific presentation. We describe the clinicopathologic and prognostic parameters of a series of 18 patients (16 [88.9%] white; 10 [55.6%] male; median age, 64.0 years [interquartile range, 45.8-74.3 years]) with histologically proven anorectal melanoma treated at our institution during a 21-year period between October 1991 and August 2012. Late diagnosis was common (44.5% of patients had stage II disease or worse at diagnosis), likely owing to a delay in presentation, nonspecific presenting symptoms, and frequent incorrect diagnoses (16 cases [88.9%]). Overall disease-specific mortality was 66.7% (12 of 18 patients), with a median time to death of 15.5 months (interquartile range, 7.3-25.5 months). Disease-specific survival was significantly better following wide local excision vs abdominoperineal resection (P = .04), although patients undergoing the former tended to have fewer rectal lesions (P = .04), smaller lesions (P = .02), and a trend toward less advanced stage (P = .06). Larger studies assessing optimal medical and surgical management for anorectal melanoma are needed to improve outcomes.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84903289211&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84903289211&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1001/jamasurg.2013.4643
DO - 10.1001/jamasurg.2013.4643
M3 - Article
C2 - 24848283
AN - SCOPUS:84903289211
SN - 2168-6254
VL - 149
SP - 608
EP - 611
JO - JAMA Surgery
JF - JAMA Surgery
IS - 6
ER -