Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Jun 16:11:1195458.
doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1195458. eCollection 2023.

Synchronous and metachronous multiple primary cancers in melanoma survivors: a gender perspective

Stefano Guzzinati  1 , Alessandra Buja  2 , Giulia Grotto  2 , Manuel Zorzi  1 , Mariagiovanna Manfredi  2 , Eleonora Bovo  1 , Paolo Del Fiore  3 , Saveria Tropea  3 , Luigi Dall'Olmo  3   4 , Carlo R Rossi  4 , Simone Mocellin  3   4 , Massimo Rugge  1   5
Affiliations

Synchronous and metachronous multiple primary cancers in melanoma survivors: a gender perspective

Stefano Guzzinati et al. Front Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: Long-term survivors of cutaneous malignant melanoma (CMM) risk subsequent malignancies due to both host-related and environmental risk factors. This retrospective population-based study differentially assesses the risk of synchronous and metachronous cancers in a cohort of CMM survivors stratified by sex.

Methods: The cohort study (1999-2018) included 9,726 CMM survivors (M = 4,873, F = 4,853) recorded by the cancer registry of all 5,000,000 residents in the Italian Veneto Region. By excluding subsequent CMM and non-CMM skin cancers, the incidence of synchronous and metachronous malignancies was calculated according to sex and tumor site, standardizing for age and calendar year. The Standardized Incidence Ratio (SIR) was calculated as the ratio between the number of subsequent cancers among CMM survivors and the expected number of malignancies among the regional population.

Results: Irrespective of the site, the SIR for synchronous cancers increased in both sexes (SIR = 1.90 in males and 1.73 in females). Both sexes also demonstrated an excess risk for synchronous kidney/urinary tract malignancies (SIR = 6.99 in males and 12.11 in females), and women had an increased risk of synchronous breast cancer (SIR = 1.69). CMM male survivors featured a higher risk of metachronous thyroid (SIR = 3.51, 95% CI [1.87, 6.01]), and prostate (SIR = 1.35, 95% CI [1.12, 1.61]) malignancies. Among females, metachronous cancers featured higher SIR values than expected: kidney/urinary tract (SIR = 2.27, 95% CI [1.29, 3.68]), non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (SIR = 2.06, 95% CI [1.24, 3.21]), and breast (SIR = 1.46, 95% CI [1.22, 1.74]). Females had an overall increased risk of metachronous cancers in the first 5 years after CMM diagnosis (SIR = 1.54 at 6-11 months and 1.37 at 1-5 years).

Conclusion: Among CMM survivors, the risk of metachronous non-skin cancers is higher than in the general population and differs significantly by sex. These results encourage sex-tailored interventions for metachronous secondary cancer prevention.

Keywords: cutaneous melanoma; metachronous cancer; multiple cancers; second primary cancer; subsequent primary cancer; synchronous cancer.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

References

    1. Ahmed B, Qadir MI, Ghafoor S. Malignant melanoma: skin cancer-diagnosis, prevention, and treatment. Crit Rev Eukaryot Gene Expr. (2020) 30:291–7. doi: 10.1615/CritRevEukaryotGeneExpr.2020028454, PMID: - DOI - PubMed
    1. Saginala K, Barsouk A, Aluru JS, Rawla P, Barsouk A. Epidemiology of melanoma. Med Sci (Basel). (2021) 9:63. doi: 10.3390/medsci9040063 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Associazione Italiana di Oncologia Medica, Gruppo di Lavoro Registri Tumori Italiani, SIAPEC-IAP . I Numeri del Cancro in Italia; (2021). Available at: https://www.aiom.it/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/2021_NumeriCancro_web.pdf. (Accessed November 15, 2022).
    1. Balamurugan A, Rees JR, Kosary C, Rim SH, Li J, Stewart SL. Subsequent primary cancers among men and women with in situ and invasive melanoma of the skin. J Am Acad Dermatol. (2011) 65:S69–77. doi: 10.1016/j.jaad.2011.04.033, PMID: - DOI - PubMed
    1. Caini S, Boniol M, Botteri E, Tosti G, Bazolli B, Russell-Edu W, et al. The risk of developing a second primary cancer in melanoma patients: a comprehensive review of the literature and meta-analysis. J Dermatol Sci. (2014) 75:3–9. doi: 10.1016/j.jdermsci.2014.02.007, PMID: - DOI - PubMed

Publication types