Abstract

BACKGROUND: The literature surrounding survival of patients with multiple primary melanomas (MPM) yields variable and opposing findings, constrained by statistical challenges. OBJECTIVES: To critically examine the available literature regarding survival of patients with MPM compared with single primary melanomas (SPM) and detail statistical methods employed. METHODS: Electronic searches of Pubmed, Embase, Web of Science and Scopus, with cross-checking of references, for the period January 1956 - June 2019 were carried out. All studies published in English examining survival in patients with multiple melanoma were included. Case studies and small case series were excluded. RESULTS: < 0.001). LIMITATIONS: Studies showed significant heterogeneity in methodology. CONCLUSIONS: When data was analysed with robust statistical methods, patients with MPM had a survival disadvantage compared with patients with SPM.

Authors	Peek, Genevieve; Olsen, Catherine M; Baade, Peter; Youlden, Danny R; Aitken, Joanne F; Green, Adele C; Khosrotehrani, Kiarash
Journal	JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF DERMATOLOGY
Pages	1406-1414
Volume	83
Date	1/04/2020
Grant ID	1125290
Funding Body	National Health and Medical Research Council fellowship
URL	http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=10.1016/j.jaad.2020.03.076