Abstract

During the last two decades, the recommended margin for primary cutaneous melanoma has consistently become more narrow. In the past, a 5cm margin in all directions from the tumor was recommended, but in practice, narrower or conservative excision was selected when the lesion located in cosmetically sensitive or in functionally critical area. Our clinical experience has shown that local recurrence is an infrequent problem, and conservative operation contributed the QOL of patient. Recently, prospective, multi-institutional, randomaized trials (Veronesi, et al. and Balch, ) were conducted to clarify controversies concerning surgical margins. These results showed that <1mm, 1cm and, 1-4mm, 2cm margin could be safely available. Collected clinical data would suggest that exceeding 3cm dose not improve either local control or ultimate patient survival, and that the histpathologic features of the primary lesion, for the most cases, dictate patient disease free interval. After this time, arbitrarily wide excision should be avoided to preserve the QOL of melanoma patient.