Familial and Sporadic Melanoma: Different Clinical and Histopathological Features in the Italian Population - a Multicentre Epidemiological Study - by GIPMe (Italian Multidisciplinary Group on Melanoma)

Background: Having a familial member affected by cutaneous melanoma is a risk factor for this neoplasm. Only a few epidemiological case-control studies have been carried out to investigate whether familial and sporadic melanomas show different clinical and histopathological features.

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate eventual different features and risk factors in subjects affected by familial and sporadic cutaneous melanoma.

Methods: A case-control multicentre study interesting 1407 familial (n = 92) and sporadic (n = 1315) melanomas in the Italian population. The analysis was made using t-test for continuous variables and chi-squared test for categorized ones. The variables which have shown statistically significant differences in the two groups in the univariate analysis were included in a multivariate model.

Results: The results showed some main significantly clinical differences between the two groups investigated: earlier age at diagnosis, a greater proportion of sunburns and a higher number of naevi were observed for the familial cases compared with sporadic ones. Nevertheless, we did not find a diagnostic anticipation in familial melanomas, in fact the invasion level and the thickness of melanomas was similar in the two groups.

Conclusion: Some relevant clinical differences are observed between the two groups examined. The familial melanoma members, although carriers of constitutional risk factors, are not careful enough to primary and secondary prevention.