[Prognostic significance of the morphological traits of skin melanoma of the head and neck].

Histologic slides of a primary tumour from 146 patients with the skin melanoma of the head or neck treated only surgically were studied. The significance of different histologic criteria in prognosis of life and metastasis was evaluated by means of unifactorial statistical analysis. The thickness of a tumour, its invasiveness and histologic type are the most informative morphological criteria. The unifactorial analysis allows foreseeing the appearance of metastasis and lethal outcome in 20 to 46% of cases. Multifactorial analysis permits predicting the appearance of metastasis within 3 years in 76,8% of cases and in 85,3% of cases within 5 years.