BACKGROUND: Melanoma is the cutaneous cancer which has the greatest lethality. Santa Catarina is the Brazilian State that contributes the most to increase this rate. OBJECTIVES: To estimate the mortality rate of melanoma in the fifth year of illness. METHODS: The sample comprises 81 reports of primary cutaneous melanoma, in 75 patients, diagnosed in lorianopolis - SC in 2002 and 2003. The protocol of research includes age, sex, patient's color, anatomical location, histological type, degree of invasion, Breslow index, inflammatory reaction, ulceration, regression, angiolymphatic invasion and tumor staging. The patients were contacted by telephone to verify their status (alive, killed by melanoma or dead for another reason). Fisher's exact test and Kaplan-Meier's survival curve were used for the statistical analysis. RESULTS: The patients' profile was: female, white, 51.3 years of age, with invasive melanoma on the trunk and limbs, extensive spreading type, Breslow 2.63 mm. The mortality rate was 7.0%, greater among men (11.1%), Breslow above 4.0 mm (66.0%), with ulceration (33.3%) and stage IV (80.0%). The average survival period was 56.7 months. Conclusions: The mortality rate of primary cutaneous melanoma was 7.0%; ulceration and the final staging were the factors with statistic significance on the result.
Melanoma; Mortality rate; Survival analysis
