Clinicopathological factors associated with death from thin (≤ 1·00 mm) melanoma.

Scalp location is a strong prognostic factor of death from thin melanoma. Further, this study provides support that melanomas with a thickness of 0·80-1·00 mm are the more hazardous thin lesions. Patients with these tumour characteristics require specific attention during follow-up. What's already known about this topic? Thin invasive melanomas (≤ 1·00 mm) contribute a substantial proportion of melanoma fatalities, owing to the high volume of disease. There is a need to find prognostic factors that will better identify fatal thin melanomas at the time of diagnosis. What does this study add? In this large population-based study, fatal thin tumours were sixfold as likely to be located on the scalp as on the back. Thin melanomas of 0·80-1·00 mm thickness were six times as likely to be associated with death as tumours < 0·30 mm. Scalp location and increasing thickness are strong predictive factors of fatal thin melanomas, indicating that patients with these tumour characteristics require close follow-up.