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Demographics, Histopathologic, and Anatomical Variations of Cutaneous Malignant Melanoma: an Iranian Study

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Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the histopathologic and anatomical characteristics of cutaneous malignant melanoma (CMM) according to demographic variables in an Iranian population. This retrospective study was conducted at a tertiary care university-affiliated cancer institute in Tehran, Iran. Medical records of all the patients diagnosed with CMM were reviewed between 2012 and 2018. The histopathologic and anatomical data were analyzed based on demographic characteristics of the patients. A total of 370 patients with CMM (58.4% female) were included in this study. The lower extremity (32%) and head and neck (29%) were the most common sites for initial occurrence of CMM. There was no statistically significant difference between male and female for anatomical location of CMM (p = 0.11). In men, 80% of the lesions were located on the right side of the body while in women, only 54% of the lesions were located on the right side (p = 0.03). Furthermore, CMM of the lower extremity occurred more commonly in the right side in men than it did in women (p = 0.04). However, women were more likely to have a right-sided head and neck lesion (p = 0.02). Among Iranian patients with CMM, lower extremity is, in general, the most common site of involvement in both genders. In men, the lesion is more commonly found on the right lower extremity while in women CMM presents more commonly on the right side of the head and neck.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cancer Institute, Department of Surgery, Imam Khomeini Hospital Complex, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Habibollah Mahmoodzadeh, Ramesh Omranipour & Saeed Shoar

  2. Department of Surgery, Shahed School of Medicine, Tehran, Iran

    Farzaneh Golfam

  3. Department of Radiation Oncology, Princes Margaret Hospital, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

    Farimah Hadjilooei

  4. Clinical Research Scientist, ScientificWriting Corporation, 6345 Garth Rd., Ste#110, P.B.#109, Baytown, TX, 77521, USA

    Saeed Shoar

Authors
  1. Habibollah Mahmoodzadeh
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  2. Farzaneh Golfam
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  3. Ramesh Omranipour
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  4. Farimah Hadjilooei
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  5. Saeed Shoar
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Correspondence to Saeed Shoar.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

The institutional review board of Imam Khomeini Hospital Complex, Tehran, Iran approved the ethical integrity of our research project.

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Informed consent was not obtained as this is a retrospective study with no intervention on human subjects. Information of all the patients was masked by appropriate coding throughout the study.

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This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors.

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Mahmoodzadeh, H., Golfam, F., Omranipour, R. et al. Demographics, Histopathologic, and Anatomical Variations of Cutaneous Malignant Melanoma: an Iranian Study. SN Compr. Clin. Med. 1, 846–849 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42399-019-00130-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42399-019-00130-0

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