Biopsy and prognosis for cutaneous malignant melanomas in clinical stage I.

The material comprises 225 patients. In 79 patients 35.1%) the tumour was closely excised and in a few cases biopsied before the patients underwent radical surgery. 146 patients were radically operated primarily. These two groups of patients are comparable with regard to sex, distribution of tumours on anatomical sites and the distribution of tumours with a given histological classification. We have ascertained that neither excision biopsy nor non-radical operation influences the prognosis if followed by radical operation within about 3 weeks.