Effect of surgical treatment on stage IV melanoma.

One hundred eighty patients with hematogenous metastases from malignant melanoma were reviewed. Complete resection of the gross tumor was technically feasible in 33 percent of the cases. Patients who had complete resection of the gross tumor had an estimated median survival time of 11.4 months and an estimated 5 year survival rate of 14 percent. Patients with solitary lesions removed had a median survival time of 22.8 months and a 5 year survival rate of 23 percent. Patients with distant subcutaneous metastases completely removed had a median survival time of 31.9 months and a 5 year survival rate of 29 percent. Surgical resection of distant metastases, when technically feasible, particularly for solitary lesions and subcutaneous locations, increases the length of survival of patients with disseminated melanoma.