Pregnancy and the prognosis of malignant melanoma.

The influence of pregnancy on the prognosis of malignant melanoma (MM) is unclear. Since 1951, a number of case reports have suggested that pregnancy may have an adverse effect on the clinical course of MM. We reviewed the literature on pregnancy and MM and focused on the well-controlled studies. Based on a limited number of controlled trials, pregnancy before, after, or during the time of diagnosis of stage 1 MM does not appear to affect survival. However, these data should be interpreted with caution because the duration of follow-up and number of patients may not be sufficient to observe a true effect.