Metastatic patterns in autopsy cases of cutaneous melanoma.

Metastases from 62 skin melanomas occurred in specific organ combinations. CNS involvement was associated with lack of local cutaneous or lymphogenous spread and absence of metastases in lungs, liver and bones. Two predominant patient clusters were observed, one visceral with wide dissemination, and one CNS cluster with cerebral spread but few other metastases. Survival tended to be longer in the CNS cluster, and also depended on age, clinical stage, histologic type and final number of metastases per patient in the total material. It is concluded that dissemination occurs in certain specific patterns with different biological behavior.