[Relation between the prognosis of skin melanomas and the timing of appearance of regional metastases].

As a result of an evaluation of the data on 319 primary patients with stage II skin malignant melanoma (after Sylven), it was found that among cases of skin melanoma metastases into regional lymph nodes patients with synchronous primary tumor and its metastases have a worse prognosis than those suffering from metachronous involvement of regional lymph nodes. A statistically significant direct correlation was established between the period from primary tumor excision to regional metastasis development and rates of 5-year survival. It was found in 92.9 +/- 2.3% of skin melanoma patients that regional metastases developed within the first 3 years after primary tumor excision. The so-called "metastasis-free" 3-year interval is the border line between favorable and unfavorable prognosis.