Trischman, Thomas

BACKGROUND The use of Mohs micrographic surgery with melanocytic immunostains (MMS-I) for cutaneous melanoma is increasing. OBJECTIVE To assess local recurrence, melanoma-specific death rates in patients with invasive melanoma treated with MMS-I. MATERIALS AND METHODS A single-center retrospective review of patients with invasive melanoma treated with MMS-I from January 2008 to December 2018. RESULTS Three hundred fifty-two patients (359 melanomas) were included. The median age was 71 years; most patients were male (252%; 71.6%). Most tumors were T1a/b (341, 95%), H/N (322; 89.7%), and lentigo maligna subtype (281, 78.3%). At a median follow-up of 4.3 years, local recurrence rates were 1.4% (5) and 0.9% (3) among all-stage and T1a/b tumors, respectively. There were 3 melanoma-related deaths (0.9%). CONCLUSION MMS-I is associated with <1% risk of local recurrence and disease-specific mortality for T1a/b melanomas.

BACKGROUND While increasing evidence supports the safety and effectiveness of immunohistochemistry-assisted Mohs micrographic surgery (MMS) for superficially invasive melanoma, there is a paucity of the literature investigating its effect on final defect size. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the tissue sparing effect of MMS for melanoma. MATERIALS AND METHODS Three hundred and twenty-eight patients with early-stage (T1a/T1b) cutaneous melanomas treated with MMS from January 2008 to December 2018 were evaluated. Measured defect sizes after Mohs tumor extirpation were compared with anticipated defect size that would result from standard-margin wide local excision (WLE). Average actual versus anticipated defect areas were compared using a paired t-test (95% confidence intervals). RESULTS The following groups demonstrated a significantly smaller defect area for MMS-treated tumors when compared with anticipated standard-margin WLE defect: All tumors combined (13.8 cm2 vs 10.4 cm2, p < .001), tumors requiring 1 stage (13.6 cm2 vs 10.1 cm2, p < .001), and tumors requiring 2 stages (13.2 cm2 vs 10.5 cm2, p = .004). The majority of patients (83.5%, n = 274) achieved clear margins with 1 stage. CONCLUSION Immunohistochemistry-assisted MMS for early-stage invasive melanoma is associated with smaller final defect size and overall tissue sparing effect compared with standard WLE margins.