Abstract
Clinical data from 369 patients with clinical stage I cutaneous malignant melanoma treated in Kuopio University Hospital district between 1974 and 1989 with a mean follow-up of 6.4 years were analysed. Clinical parameters, histology, DNA index, S-phase fraction (SPF) and mitotic indices [mitotic activity index (MAI) and volume-corrected mitotic index (M/V index)] were correlated with the outcome of the disease to establish their value as predictors of stage I cutaneous malignant melanoma. In univariate survival analyses, bleeding, gender, tumour thickness, level of invasion according to Clark, TNM category, MAI, M/V index and SPF were the most significant predictors of recurrence-free (RFS) and overall survival. In Cox's multivariate analysis, tumour thickness (P = 0.0021), bleeding (P = 0.0106) and M/V index (P = 0.0058) predicted poor RFS in the 259 patients available for the analysis. Poor overall survival was predicted by MAI (P = 0.0002), bleeding (P = 0.004), SPF (P = 0.009) and male gender (P = 0.034). The present results indicate that mitotic activity index (MAI), volume-corrected mitotic index (M/V index) and S-phase fraction (SPF) are important prognostic factors in addition to the well-established Breslow thickness in stage I cutaneous malignant melanoma.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 24 print issues and online access
$259.00 per year
only $10.79 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Karjalainen, J., Eskelinen, M., Nordling, S. et al. Mitotic rate and S-phase fraction as prognostic factors in stage I cutaneous malignant melanoma. Br J Cancer 77, 1917–1925 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/bjc.1998.318
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/bjc.1998.318