Prevalence and clinical-pathological features of nevus-associated versus de novo melanoma: a retrospective cross-sectional study of 2806 cases

Citation: Lai M, Piana S, Pellacani G, Longo C, Pampena R. Prevalence and clinical-pathological features of nevus-associated versus de novo melanoma: a retrospective cross-sectional study of 2806 cases. Dermatol Pract Concept. 2022;12(01):e2022094. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5826/dpc.1201a94

Accepted: October 19, 2021; Published: April 2022

Copyright: ©2022 Lai et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (BY-NC-4.0), https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ which permits unrestricted noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original authors and source are credited.

Funding: None.

Competing interests: None.

Authorship: All authors have contributed significantly to this publication.

Corresponding author: Caterina Longo, MD, PhD, Department of Dermatology, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy, Azienda Unità Sanitaria Locale – IRCCS di Reggio Emilia, Centro Oncologico ad Alta Tecnologia Diagnostica-Dermatologia, Viale Risorgimento, 80, 42123, Reggio Emilia, Italy. Email: longo.caterina@gmail.com 

Abstract

Introduction: Nevus-associated melanoma (NAM) accounts for almost one third of all cutaneous melanomas; it is often associated with younger age, trunk location and lower Breslow’s thickness compared to de novo melanoma (DNM).

Objectives: To define the prevalence of NAM in a tertiary referral Center in Italy and to analyze its distribution according to demographics, clinical and histopathological variables

Methods: Data were retrospectively retrieved from the archive of the Pathology Unit from June 2011 to August 2020. NAMs were compared with DNMs according to demographic, clinical and histopathological variables.

Results: A total of 2806 consecutive cases of melanoma were excised in 2537 patients. Of these, 431 (15.4%) were NAM. NAM patients were significantly younger than DNM patients (55.1±14.1 vs. 62.0±15.0 years, p<0.001); they were predominantly located on the trunk (64.0% vs. 47.9% of DNMs). Melanoma located on the head and neck, trunk and upper limbs respectively had 2.3 (95%CI:1.2-4.5, p:0.014), 3.2 (95%CI:2.1-5.1, p<0.001) and 3.5 (95%CI:2.0-6.1, p<0.001) more odds to be NAM than those on the lower limbs.

Conclusions: Our results confirm the association of NAM with younger age and trunk location. We also demonstrated that body site differences of NAM distribution are enhanced before the sixth decade of life.

Keywords : melanoma, nevus-associated melanoma, de novo melanoma

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

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