Document Type : Original Article

Authors

• Hossain Kawosi ¹
• Nader Salari ²
• Arash Golpazir Sorkhe ³
• Ibrahim Shakiba ⁴
• Roya Safarpour ¹
• Masoud Mohammadi ⁵

¹ Department of Dermatology, School of Medicine, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran

² Department of Biostatistics, School of Health, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran

³ Kermanshah Cancer Registry, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran

⁴ Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran

⁵ Cellular and Molecular Research Center, Gerash University of Medical Sciences, Gerash, Iran

Abstract

Background: Malignant melanoma is a prevalent, offensive, and
fatal cancer in developed countries. Most of our information is
related to studies conducted in western countries. This study
aims to evaluate demographic and clinical data of melanoma in
the Kermanshah province of Iran.
Method: This was a descriptive study on data available in the
Cancer Registry Center of Kermanshah, which includes 70
patients during eight years from 2010–2017. Clinical recognition
of melanoma was based on American Joint Committee on Cancer
criteria. Data were analyzed by SPSS 20 software and shown in
ArcGIS (Version 10.7).
Results: Patients included 46 men (65.7%) and 24 women (34.3%)
with a mean age of 60.49 ± 16.08. The general prevalence of
melanoma was 4.4 in every 1,000,000 persons annually. Most
patients had skin type III (65.7%), indoor jobs (61.4%), and lived
in the city (67.1%). Also, 35.7% had a trauma history, 2.8% had
familial melanoma history, and 17.1% had other types of skin
cancer. Extremities (51.4%), acral lentiginous melanoma (50.1%),
Clark IV (61.4%), and inguinal lymph nodes (14.3%) were the
most prevalent location, clinical type, pathological level, and
involved lymph nodes, respectively.
Conclusion: Acral lentiginous melanoma and extremities
involvement are prevalent in our region. Most patients go to
doctors at an advanced level due to delays in referral, lack of
follow-up by patients, lack of recognition at the initial care level,
and lack of access to specialty centers. We recommend general
instructions through media and holding special workshops for
physicians for better familiarity with melanoma.

Keywords

• cancer
• melanoma
• epidemiology
• Kermanshah