Analysis of treatment and prognosis of 59 cases of vulvar melanoma

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Objective: To assess the treatment and prognosis of vulvar melanoma. Methods: A total of 59 cases of primary vulvar melanoma admitted to Cancer Hospital of Peking Union Medical College, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences from January 1st, 1981 to November 30th, 2019 were collected. The clinical characteristics, treatment, survival and prognostic factors of vulvar melanoma were analyzed retrospectively. The end date of follow-up was January 15th, 2020.The median follow-up time was 26.0 months (range:2-198 months). Results: (1) Clinical characteristics: the median age of 59 patients with vulvar melanoma was 56 years old (range:18-83 years old). According to the American Joint Committee on Cancer stage manual, there were 18, 7, 26 and 8 cases of stage Ⅰ, Ⅱ, Ⅲ and Ⅳ respectively. The lesion of 38 cases was single and the other 21 cases were multiple. The largest diameter of the tumor ranged from 0.3 to 17.0 cm.The surface of the lesion was ulcerated in 17 cases. (2) Treatment: a total of 59 cases with vulvar melanoma, 56 patients received surgery, 36 cases of them received radical resection of vulva and 20 received local extended resection of vulvar tumor due to unilateral vulva lesion. Three patients did not receive surgery,one received chemotherapy combined with interferon, one received interferon, and one received radiotherapy. Lymph node management: among the 56 patients treated by surgery, 37 patients received inguinal lymphadenectomy, 24 (65%, 24/37) of whom were confirmed with inguinal lymph node metastasis by postoperative pathological examination. Inguinal lymph nodes enlargement were not found in 19 cases by preoperative imaging and clinical examination. In these 19 patients, three patients received inguinal lymph node biopsy, among them, one (1/3) patient was confirmed with inguinal lymph node metastasis by postoperative pathological examination, and the remaining 16 patients did not receive inguinal lymph node surgery. Postoperative adjuvant treatment: among the 56 patients who received surgery, 31 received adjuvant chemotherapy，one received adjuvant radiotherapy, four received interferon therapy, 17 received combination therapy including chemotherapy, and three did not receive postoperative adjuvant therapy. (3) Survival:during the follow-up period, the median survival time of 59 patients with vulvar melanoma was 30.0 months (range:2.0-198.0 months). The 3-year survival rate was 42.5%, and the 5-year survival rate was 23.8%. The median survival time of stage Ⅰ, Ⅱ, Ⅲ and Ⅳ were 72.0, 45.0, 24.0 and 23.0 months, respectively. The difference among stage Ⅰ, Ⅱ and stage Ⅲ, Ⅳ were statistically significant （P<0.01）. The median survival time of patients undergoing radical resection of the vulva (35.0 months) and local enlarged tumor resection (29.0 months) were significantly longer than that of patients without surgery (9.0 months, P<0.01). The median survival time of the patients who underwent inguinal lymphadenectomy, lymph node biopsy and those who did not undergo surgery were 35.0, 32.0 and 30.0 months, respectively. There were no significant differences among the 3 groups (P>0.05). The median survival time of postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy patients (49.0 months) were significantly longer than that of postoperative adjuvant radiotherapy, interferon,and combination therapy including chemotherapy (9.0, 14.0 and 26.0 months, respectively, all P<0.01). (4) Prognostic factors: the univariate analysis showed that stage, vulvar operation and postoperative adjuvant treatment were the risk factors affecting the prognosis of patients with vulvar melanoma (P<0.01). Multivariate analysis revealed that stage alone was an independent risk factor affecting the prognosis of patients with vulvar melanoma (P<0.01). Conclusions: The prognosis of patients with vulvar melanoma is poor, and stage is an independent prognostic factor.Surgery combined with postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy may achieve relatively good results.