Background: The incidence of cutaneous malignant melanoma (CMM) has increased continuously during recent decades among many populations of the world. Cutaneous Malignant Melanoma is a malignancy with a demographic and ethnic disparity located in the skin and mucous membranous. The objective of this study is to determine Cutaneous Melanoma (CM) characteristics in Iran.

Methods: This is a retrospective cross sectional study. We used data from Razi Hospital, Tehran University Melanoma Cancer Registry. The cases included in this study met the following criteria: primary CM, in situ or invasive, diagnosed in the recent past ten years. We have evaluated prognostic factors in addition to basic demographic data.

Result: A total of 193 melanomas (99 males (51.3%) and 94 females (48.7%)) were included. The mean age was 58.3±15.8years. The most frequent location for melanoma was lower extremity (75 patients, 38.9%). The most frequent subtype for melanoma based on histopathology was the Acral Lentiginous Melanoma (ALM) (74 patients, 38.3%). There was statistically significant difference between histological subtypes of melanoma and Breslow thickness (p˂ 0.00 1).

Conclusion: Present study showed risk factors such as age and pre-existing nevus are important factors in CMM incidence in Iran. Early detection of melanoma is a key factor in improving patients’ survival.

Keywords: Cutaneous Melanoma, Malignant Melanoma, Cancer, Epidemiology, Histopathology, Immunohistochemistry, Histology, IHC, Original study, Skin cancer