The malignant palm-plantar melanoma is a malignant tumor developed at the expense of melanocytes. It is surgically curable when the diagnostic is done at an early stage.
Aim
Evaluate the clinical aspects and the results of malignant palm-plantar melanoma in Brazzaville.
Patients and methods
It is about
a descriptive and transversal study realized on a period of 13 years (January
1998-December 2011). It included 121 patients having malignant palm-plantar
melanoma on which we tried three different types of treatment: surgery,
chemotherapy and the association of both surgery and chemotherapy.
The evaluation was done after the 3rd and the 6th cure.
The data analysis was made with Stata 10.0 software. The survival rate was
calculated by Kaplan Meier method.
Results
We noticed a female predominance (65 versus 56). The global average age was 61,20 years old more or less 10,78 years going from 27 years old to 90 years old. The melanoma was more hitting farmers and housewives. The pain was the major reason of a first consultation. The average delay to get a consultation was 16,46 days more or less 30,31 days. 81,7% reached a health center. The secondary localizations of tumors were dominated by the ganglionic incidences. The ulcer burgeoning and nodular forms predominated. 50% of the patients were classified T4 and 82 patients benefited from full treatment. The response was complete at 61 patients and the global survival after 49 months was 50%. Survival with no recurrence after 95 months was 50%.
Conclusion
The malignant palm-plantar melanoma is a rare, aggressive with a high metastatic potential malignant tumor. Large dermatological surgery at an early stage is the only potentially curative treatment, but hard to achieve because of the advanced stage to which patients see a doctor. To inform the patients about the risky behaviors and the screening of suspects lesions form the basis of prevention.