Melanoma patients waiting longer than 90 days after biopsy for surgical treatment have an increased risk of mortality compared to patients treated within 30 days of biopsy, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.
For the study, Cleveland Clinic researchers pored over data compiled in the National Cancer Database on 153,218 adult patients diagnosed with melanoma from 2004 to 2012.
Patients with stage I melanoma treated between 30 and 59 days after biopsy were 5 percent more likely to die compared to patients treated within 30 days. As the time between biopsy and surgery increased, so did a patient's likelihood of death. When treated between 60 and 89 days, the risk of mortality increased 16 percent. When treated between 91 and 120 days, the chance of death increased 29 percent. Patients treated after 120 days post-biopsy were 41 percent more likely to die than patients treated within 30 days.
"The ideal timing for melanoma treatment, predominantly surgery, had yet to be determined — until now," said Brian Gastman, MD, the director of melanoma surgery at Cleveland Clinic and the primary investigator on the study. "Knowing for certain that a more expedient time to surgery to remove an early melanoma improves the chances of survival is a game-changer in treating this life-threatening skin cancer."
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