Acral lentiginous melanoma versus lentigo maligna melanoma among Iraqi patients

OBJECTIVE: To report the different clinical aspects of malignant melanoma and their varieties in Iraqi patients.

METHODS: We carried out this study in the Department of Dermatology and Venereology, Baghdad Teaching Hospital, Baghdad, Iraq during the period from 1985-2005. Eighteen patients with malignant melanoma were enrolled in this work. The different clinical aspects and histopathological examination were determined.

RESULTS: The study population consisted of 18 patients (15 females and 3 males) with a female to male ratio of 5:1. Their ages ranged from 12-75 years (mean ± SD, 43.72 ± 14.75 years) while the duration of the disease ranged between 0.25-5 years (1.98 ± 1.44 years). The duration of acral lentiginous melanoma was 0.5-4 years (2.16 ± 1.36 years) and in nodular type was 0.5-3 years (1.28 ± 0.90 years), while in lentigo maligna melanoma was 1.5-5 years (3.37 ± 1.49 years). Regarding the location and gender of the patients affected, 6 cases (all females) were on the acral parts of the body (4 on the feet, and 2 on the hands), 5 patients (all females) on the face, 5 cases (4 females and one male) on the lower legs, while the remaining 2 male cases, was on the interscapular region and the other one on the elbow area.

CONCLUSION: We conclude that malignant melanoma in Iraqi patients is a disease of younger females, which presented mainly as acral lentiginous melanoma, nodular melanoma and lentigo maligna melanoma and superficial spreading melanoma.