Population-based 20-year survival among people diagnosed with thin melanomas in Queensland, Australia.
Available clinical and histologic data from the Queensland Cancer Registry were obtained for all patients diagnosed with a single thin invasive melanoma from 1982 to 2006 and matched against national death registration data. Melanoma-specific survival estimates to December 31, 2007, were assessed, and subgroup differences in prognosis were determined by fitting multivariate Cox proportional hazard models.
RESULTS: Among 26,736 people in the state of Queensland diagnosed with thin melanomas, the 20-year survival was 96%