Malignant melanoma of the foot. A clinicopathological study of 125 primary cutaneous malignant melanomas.

In a retrospective study of 125 primary cutaneous malignant melanomas of the foot treated from 1949 to 1977 the prognostic importance of various histological and clinical factors was observed. Clinical stage, location of tumour on the foot, level of invasion, tumour thickness, mitotic rate, and presence of ulceration correlated well with survival, while sex and histological type did not. A histological transition was found between the superifical spreading type and the acral lentiginous type, indicating a close biological relationship between the two types of melanoma.