Table 2.
Clinical characteristics at primary diagnosis of the culprit tumor
| BRAF n = 87 (100.0) | NRAS n = 53 (100.0) | Wild type n = 72 (100.0) | Total n = 212a (100.0) | p-value | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gender | |||||
| Male | 44 (50.6) | 29 (54.7) | 30 (41.7) | 103 (48.6) | 0.314 |
| Female | 43 (49.4) | 24 (45.3) | 42 (58.3) | 109 (51.4) | |
| Age | |||||
| median (years) | 56 | 66 | 67 | 64 | 0.001* |
| IQR (years) | 44 – 67 | 54.5 – 76 | 59 – 75 | 50 – 72 | |
| < 50 | 31 (35.6) | 9 (17.0) | 12 (16.7) | 52 (24.5) | 0.001* |
| 50 – 59 | 19 (21.8) | 10 (18.9) | 6 (8.3) | 35 (16.5) | |
| 60 – 69 | 22 (25.3) | 13 (24.5) | 20 (27.8) | 55 (25.9) | |
| ≥ 70 | 15 (17.2) | 21 (39.6) | 34 (47.2) | 70 (47.2) | |
| SLNBb | |||||
| not performed | 42 (48.3) | 24 (45.3) | 24 (33.3) | 90 (43.9) | 0.077 |
| performed | 41 (49.4) | 26 (52.0) | 48 (66.7) | 115 (56.1) | |
| SLN positive | 23 (26.4) | 14 (26.4) | 20 (27.8) | 57 (26.9) | 0.352 |
| SLN negative | 18 (20.7) | 12 (22.6) | 28 (38.9) | 58 (27.4) | |
| AJCC stagec | |||||
| I | 27 (35.5) | 14 (29.2) | 14 (21.2) | 55 (29.0) | 0.199 |
| II | 18 (23.7) | 16 (33.3) | 29 (43.9) | 63 (33.2) | |
| III | 29 (38.2) | 15 (31.3) | 20 (30.3) | 64 (33.7) | |
| IV | 2 (2.6) | 3 (6.3) | 3 (4.6) | 8 (4.2) | |
| N status (TNM)d | |||||
| N0 | 46 (60.5) | 31 (64.6) | 43 (64.2) | 120 (62.8) | 0.980 |
| N1 | 15 (19.7) | 10 (20.8) | 14 (20.9) | 39 (20.4) | |
| N2 | 9 (11.8) | 4 (8.3) | 7 (10.5) | 20 (10.5) | |
| N3 | 6 (7.9) | 3 (6.3) | 3 (4.5) | 12 (6.3) | |
| M status (TNM) | |||||
| M0 | 85 (97.7) | 50 (94.3) | 69 (95.8) | 204 (96.2) | 0.585 |
| M1 | 2 (2.3) | 3 (5.7) | 3 (4.2) | 8 (3.8) | |
| Other malignanciese | |||||
| no | 75 (91.5) | 35 (68.6) | 57 (82.6) | 167 (82.7) | 0.003* |
| yes | 7 (8.5) | 16 (31.4) | 12 (17.4) | 35 (17.3) | |
Baseline demographic and clinical characteristics are indicated according to genotype. Categorical variables were compared with the Chi-square test and age differences with the non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis test; the significance level was adjusted with the Bonferroni correction with p < 0.006 considered significant (*). aFive patients showed mutations in both BRAF and NRAS; bno data on SLNB performance available for n = 7; cno definite AJCC staging available for n = 22; dunknown N status for n = 21; eno information for other malignancies available for n = 10; SLNB sentinel lymph node biopsy, IQR interquartile range, AJCC American Joint Committee on Cancer