Vulvar/vaginal melanoma: an updated surveillance epidemiology and end results database review, comparison with cutaneous melanoma and significance of racial disparities

Abstract

Objective: We aimed to compare the differences in demographic features, clinicopathologic features, and survival in patients with vulvar/vaginal melanoma versus cutaneous melanoma with a special emphasis on race.

Materials and methods: Data were obtained from the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results database from 1973 to 2008. Kaplan-Meier curves and Cox multivariate model were used for statistical analysis.

Results: Seven hundred sixty-two patients with vulvar/vaginal melanoma and 55,485 patients with cutaneous melanoma patients were included in the study. Twenty-eight patients of the vulvar/vaginal group and 334 patients of the cutaneous group were black (3.6% vs 0.6%, respectively). The median age at the time of diagnosis was 68 years in the vulvar/vaginal group and 52 years in the cutaneous group (P < 0.0001). Three hundred fifty patients (45.9%) in the vulvar/vaginal and 46,499 patients (83.8%) in the cutaneous group presented with localized disease (P < 0.0001), whereas 64 patients (8.4%) in the vulvar/vaginal group and 1520 patients (2.7%) in cutaneous group presented with advanced disease (P = 0.0081). The median survival of the black patients was 16 months in the vulvar/vaginal group and 124 months in the cutaneous melanoma group (P < 0.0001). The median survival in the nonblack population was 39 months in the vulvar/vaginal group compared to 319 months in the cutaneous melanoma group (P <0.0001). In multivariate analysis performed for patients between 1988 and 2008, age, stage, and positive lymph nodes were negative independent prognostic factors for survival in vulvar/vaginal melanoma; whereas age, race, stage, radiation therapy, and lymph node positivity were negative prognostic factors in cutaneous melanoma.

Conclusion: These findings emphasize that cutaneous and vulvar/vaginal melanomas have different clinicopathologic features and survival patterns.