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Publications

Journal Article Epublish 2 citations

PubMed: 42393046 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-026-74443-9

Years of life lost in patients with a false-negative diagnosis of primary melanoma. A prospective study of the German Central Malignant Melanoma Registry involving 9063 patients over 28 years.

Nat Commun 17(1)

Authors: Claus Garbe, Ulrike Keim, Teresa Amaral, Paolo A Ascierto, Jürgen Bauer, Reinhard Dummer, Alexander M M Eggermont, Thomas K Eigentler, Lukas Flatz, Stephan Forchhammer, Andrea Forschner, Sara Gandini, Jeffrey E Gershenwald, Axel Hauschild, Christoph Hoeller, John M Kirkwood, Celeste Lebbe, Georgina V Long, Paul Lorigan, Jason J Luke, Friedegund Meier, Gisela Metzler, Paul Nathan, Michael A Postow, Caroline Robert, Martin Röcken, Dirk Schadendorf, Benjamin Weide, David Whiteman, Ulrike Leiter, Peter Martus

Affiliations

  • Center for Dermatooncology, Department of Dermatology, University Hospital of Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany.
  • Practice Dermatology in Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany.
  • Institute for Health Sciences, University of Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany.
  • Center for Dermatooncology, Department of Dermatology, University Hospital of Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany.
  • Department of Skin Cancer, Cancer Immunotherapy and Development Therapeutics. Instituto Nazionale Tumouri IRCCS Fondazione G. Pascale, Napoli, Italy.
  • Practice Dermatology in Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany.
  • Department of Dermatology, Aarau, Switzerland.
  • Faculty of Medicine, University of Zürich (UZH), Zürich, Switzerland.
  • University Medical Center Utrecht & Princess Maxima Center, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
  • Comprehensive Cancer Center Munich of the Technical University Munich and the Ludwig Maximilians University, Munich, Germany.
  • Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Department of Dermatology, Venereology and Allergology, Berlin, Germany.
  • Molecular and Pharmaco-Epidemiology Unit, European Institute of Oncology, IRCCS, Milano, Italy.
  • Department of Surgical Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA.
  • Department of Dermatology, University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein (UKSH), Campus Kiel, Kiel, Germany.
  • Department of Dermatology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
  • Sandra and Thomas Usher Chair in Melanoma Research, Melanoma and Skin Cancer Program, University of Pittsburgh & UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
  • Université Paris Cite, AP-HP Dermatooncology and CIC, Cancer institute APHP.nord Paris cité, INSERM U1342, Saint Louis Hospital, Paris, France.
  • Melanoma Institute Australia, The University of Sydney, and Royal North Shore and Mater Hospitals, Sydney, Faculty of Medicine & Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
  • University of Manchester and Christie NHS Foundation, Manchester, UK.
  • Immunotherapy and Drug Development Center, UPMC Hillman Cancer Center and University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
  • Skin Cancer Center at the University Cancer Center Dresden and National Center for Tumor Diseases Dresden, Dresden, Germany.
  • Department of Dermatology, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany.
  • Mount-Vernon Cancer Centre, Northwood, United Kingdom.
  • Department of Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York City, and Weill Cornell Medical College, New York City, NY, USA.
  • Department of Medical Oncology, Gustave Roussy and Paris Saclay University, Villejuif, France.
  • Department of Dermatology, University Hospital Essen, Essen, & German Cancer Consortium, Heidelberg Partner Site Essen, Essen, Germany.
  • Population Health Department, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
  • Institute for Clinical Epidemiology and Applied Biometrics, University of Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany.

Abstract

A false-negative diagnosis of cancer can lead to a delay in effective treatment and a poorer prognosis. Here, we use the example of cutaneous melanoma to examine how many years of life are lost after a false-negative diagnosis compared to a primarily correct diagnosis. From 1996 to 2015, 9,063 patients are prospectively registered in the German Central Malignant Melanoma Registry and followed up until December 2023. A false-negative diagnosis is found in 206 (2.3%) patients. The median time to correct diagnosis is 24.0 months. The 10-year recurrence-free survival probabilities are 32.9% for false-negative diagnoses and 76.2% for correct diagnoses (p < 0.001). The 10-year melanoma-specific survival probabilities are 62.1% versus 85.0% (p < 0.001). On average, each person with an initial false-negative diagnosis loses 8.2 years of life compared to people with a correct diagnosis. This high number of years of life lost raises the question of whether similar results also apply to other types of cancer.

MeSH

Registries, Biological Science Disciplines, Probability, Melanoma, Neoplasms, Diagnosis, Prospective Studies