Survival impact of post-operative immunotherapy in resected stage III cutaneous melanomas in the checkpoint era.

Background: Checkpoint inhibitors have shown improvement in recurrence-free survival in the post-operative setting for node-positive melanoma and were first approved in late 2015. However, single-agent checkpoint therapies have yet to show benefit to overall survival (OS) for lower-risk stage III cancers. We evaluated the OS benefit of post-operative immunotherapy in the National Cancer Database (NCDB).

Histopathologic Evolution of Melanocytes Associated With Rapid Clinical Progression of Melanoma: Clinicopathologic Presentation of Hyperprogressive Disease in a Patient Treated With Immunotherapy.

This report describes the case of a 71-year-old woman with nodular melanoma who experienced rapid clinical deterioration 3 weeks after receiving immunotherapy treatment. Given this presentation, there was high suspicion for tumor hyperprogression, which has been observed as a paradoxical response to the use of immunotherapy in the treatment of melanoma. Histopathologic and genomic changes of primary tumor are documented at several different timepoints relative to immunotherapy treatment that may depict important alterations associated with hyperprogressive disease.

Impact of Immediate Surgical Reconstruction Following Wide Local Excision of Malignant Head and Neck Melanoma.

Background: The role of surgical reconstruction following melanoma extirpation is well recognized. Although technical considerations depend on patient anatomy and surgeon preference, the optimal timing of reconstruction remains unclear. This study aims to evaluate clinical and oncologic outcomes in melanoma extirpation followed by immediate reconstruction.

Race-, Age-, and Anatomic Site-Specific Gender Differences in Cutaneous Melanoma Suggest Differential Mechanisms of Early- and Late-Onset Melanoma.

In order to explore melanoma risk factors through gender-, age-, race-, and site-specific incidence rates, malignant melanoma cases from the Caucasian whites and non-whites were retrieved from the US SEER database. Age-standardized, age-, and site-specific tumor rates were calculated. All races and both genders showed positive annual average percentage changes (AAPCs) over the years, but AAPCs varied at different body sites, with men's trunk exhibiting the fastest increase.