Table 3.

Multivariate Survival Analysis of Tumor-Associated Characteristics, According to the Proportional Hazards Method for Patients with Vertical Growth Phase Melanoma, Using Death from Melanoma as End Point

Variable	Categories	n	HR*	P value†
Level of invasion (Clark)	II, III, IV	138	1
	V	33	3.3	<0.0001
Tumor ulceration	Absent	96	1
	Present	75	1.9	0.02
Ki-67 expression	Low‡	42	1
	High	129	2.6	0.03
bFGF, endothelial cells	Absent	36	2.0
	Present	135	1	0.02
MVD	Low§	115	1
	High	56	1.9	0.03

Only patients with information on all variables were included, n = 171.

*Hazard ratio.

^†L-ratio test.

^‡≤16% (25th percentile).

^§≤144 vessels/mm² (67th percentile).