Melanoma depth in patients with an established dermatologist - 16/04/14
Abstract |
Background |
The impact of having an established dermatologist on melanoma depth at diagnosis is incompletely understood.
Objective |
We sought to determine whether having had a previous dermatologic examination (an established dermatologist), the recency of the last examination, and the wait time for the dermatology appointment are associated with melanoma invasiveness and depth.
Methods |
This was a retrospective cross-sectional study of 388 patients with primary melanoma at an academic dermatology department.
Results |
Patients with an established dermatologist were more likely than patients without an established dermatologist to be given a diagnosis of melanoma in situ (103/162 [63.6%] vs 69/155 [44.5%], P = .001) and to have thinner invasive melanoma (0.48 [0.30-0.71] mm vs 0.61 [0.40-1.10] mm, respectively, P = .003). These trends were observed for patients with self-detected, but not dermatologist-detected, melanoma. Patient-detected melanomas made up 184/361 (51.0%) of all melanomas, 83/199 (41.7%) of in situ melanomas, and 101/162 (62.4%) invasive melanomas. Self-detected melanomas were in situ in 36 of 61 (59.0%) patients with an established dermatologist versus 40 of 108 (37.0%) patients without an established dermatologist, P = .006. Neither time from last dermatologic examination nor wait time for an appointment was associated with melanoma invasiveness or depth.
Limitations |
Data are retrospective and from 1 large academic health care system.
Conclusion |
Education obtained at the dermatology appointment may improve early self-detection of melanoma, and having an established dermatologist may facilitate earlier evaluation of concerning lesions.
Le texte complet de cet article est disponible en PDF.Key words : dermatology, education, melanoma, prevention, public health, skin cancer
Plan
Supported in part by Clinical Research Fellowship funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (Ms Moreau) and by UL1 RR024153-04 (Dr Ferris). Statistics consultation funding from the National Institutes of Health (grant numbers UL1 RR024153 and UL1TR000005). |
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Ms Cheng and Ms Moreau contributed equally to this work. |
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Conflicts of interest: None declared. |
Vol 70 - N° 5
P. 841-846 - mai 2014 Retour au numéroBienvenue sur EM-consulte, la référence des professionnels de santé.
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