@article {Mert1118, author = {Ismail Mert and Assaad Semaan and Ira Winer and Robert T. Morris and Rouba Ali-Fehmi}, title = {Vulvar/Vaginal Melanoma: An Updated Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results Database Review, Comparison With Cutaneous Melanoma and Significance of Racial Disparities}, volume = {23}, number = {6}, pages = {1118--1125}, year = {2013}, doi = {10.1097/IGC.0b013e3182980ffb}, publisher = {BMJ Specialist Journals}, abstract = {Objective We aimed to compare the differences in demographic features, clinicopathologic features, and survival in patients with vulvar/vaginal melanoma versus cutaneous melanoma with a special emphasis on race.Materials and Methods Data were obtained from the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results database from 1973 to 2008. Kaplan-Meier curves and Cox multivariate model were used for statistical analysis.Results Seven hundred sixty-two patients with vulvar/vaginal melanoma and 55,485 patients with cutaneous melanoma patients were included in the study. Twenty-eight patients of the vulvar/vaginal group and 334 patients of the cutaneous group were black (3.6\% vs 0.6\%, respectively). The median age at the time of diagnosis was 68 years in the vulvar/vaginal group and 52 years in the cutaneous group (P \< 0.0001). Three hundred fifty patients (45.9\%) in the vulvar/vaginal and 46,499 patients (83.8\%) in the cutaneous group presented with localized disease (P \< 0.0001), whereas 64 patients (8.4\%) in the vulvar/vaginal group and 1520 patients (2.7\%) in cutaneous group presented with advanced disease (P = 0.0081). The median survival of the black patients was 16 months in the vulvar/vaginal group and 124 months in the cutaneous melanoma group (P \< 0.0001). The median survival in the nonblack population was 39 months in the vulvar/vaginal group compared to 319 months in the cutaneous melanoma group (P \<0.0001). In multivariate analysis performed for patients between 1988 and 2008, age, stage, and positive lymph nodes were negative independent prognostic factors for survival in vulvar/vaginal melanoma; whereas age, race, stage, radiation therapy, and lymph node positivity were negative prognostic factors in cutaneous melanoma.Conclusion These findings emphasize that cutaneous and vulvar/vaginal melanomas have different clinicopathologic features and survival patterns.}, issn = {1048-891X}, URL = {https://ijgc.bmj.com/content/23/6/1118}, eprint = {https://ijgc.bmj.com/content/23/6/1118.full.pdf}, journal = {International Journal of Gynecologic Cancer} }