WEDNESDAY, March 4, 2026 (HealthDay News) -- Variables associated with time to recurrence in melanoma include ulceration, thickness, and tumor location, according to a study published online March 4 in JAMA Dermatology.

Maya Mundada, from the University of California in San Francisco, and colleagues examined the clinical and pathological factors associated with the risk for melanoma recurrence for localized melanomas (stage IA to IIC) in a study involving 1,092 patients with melanoma diagnosed from 2010 to 2017.

Most of the patients were male (57.0 percent), and the race and ethnicity categories were Hispanic, non-Hispanic, White, other, and unknown (4.1, 94.4, 96.7, 3.3, and 1.5 percent, respectively). In a multivariable analysis, the researchers identified six variables that were significantly associated with time to recurrence: ulceration and thickness (hazard ratios, 3.48 and 1.09, respectively), tumor location (scalp or neck and face versus arms: hazard ratios, 3.22 and 2.14, respectively), neurotropism, lymphovascular invasion, and mitoses (hazard ratios, 1.96, 2.52, and 3.93, respectively).

"Several clinicopathologic variables (i.e., thickness, ulceration, tumor site, neurotropism, lymphovascular invasion, mitoses) are associated with time to melanoma recurrence," the authors write. "Consideration of these factors could help guide surveillance for recurrences."

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