Presentation, Management, and Prognosis of Primary Gastrointestinal Melanoma: A Population-based Study

Abstract Background Primary gastrointestinal (GI) melanomas, compared with cutaneous melanomas, have a much lower incidence. As a result, there is a paucity of data regarding their presentation, treatment, and prognosis. The aim of this study was to analyze the incidence, patient characteristics, treatment patterns, and survival of primary GI melanomas in comparison with cutaneous melanomas using a population-based cohort. Methods Patients diagnosed with primary GI and cutaneous melanomas were identified from Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results 1973-2016 data. Results A total of 872 primary GI melanomas and 319,327 cutaneous melanomas were identified. GI melanoma incidence increased by an annual percent change of 1.82 (P  Conclusions Despite a steady increasing incidence since 1975, GI melanomas are rare, present with advanced stages, and have worse outcomes than cutaneous melanomas. The improved prognosis of these tumors in recent years might reflect the impact of novel targeted treatments and the more common use of local tumor excision over major resections.