Abstract
The Prognosis and Statistical Investigation Committee of the Japanese Skin Cancer Society and melanoma study group by the Grant-in-Aid for Cancer Reseach (11-7) from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare have periodically conducted a nationwide survery of skin malignancies.
In this report, we analyzed 701 Japanese patients with malignant melanoma registered by 22 medical institutions from Jan. 1992 to Dec. 1996. The final follow-up data were collected in August 2001. The 701 cases consisted of 335 males and 366 females. The data analyzed included age, sex, anatomical distribution, clinical features of primary lesions, Clark's subtype, tumor thickness (Breslow), Clark's level, disease stage and treatment.
The survival rate was assessed by the Kaplan-Meier method, and the significance of differences was determined with the log-rank test. [Skin Cancer (Japan) 2002; 17: 7-15]
