Surgical treatment delays are associated with worse mortality outcomes among patients with melanoma, according to a study published online June 30 in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology .

David D. Xiong, M.D., from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, and colleagues examined the impact of surgical treatment delays on melanoma-specific mortality (MSM) and overall mortality (OM) among 108,689 patients with stage I to III cutaneous melanoma identified through the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database.

The researchers found that treatment delays of three to five months were associated with worse MSM across all stages, and any delay beyond one month was associated with worse OM. Three- to five-month delays were associated with worse MSM, and any delay beyond one month was associated with worse OM in a subgroup analysis of stage I patients. Worse MSM was seen with delays of six months or longer and worse OM was seen with delays of three to five months among stage II patients. In stage III disease, there was no significant effect observed for treatment delays.

"Timely treatment of cutaneous melanoma may be associated with improved all-cause mortality and reduced incidence of disease-specific death," the authors write. "Prompt treatment of surgically resectable melanomas may be associated with lowered incidence of MSM."

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