SURGERY Demographics, Histopathologic, and Anatomical Variations of Cutaneous Malignant Melanoma: an Iranian Study Habibollah Mahmoodzadeh 1 & Farzaneh Golfam 2 & Ramesh Omranipour 1 & Farimah Hadjilooei 3 & Saeed Shoar 1,4 Accepted: 9 August 2019 # Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 Abstract The aim of this study was to evaluate the histopathologic and anatomical characteristics of cutaneous malignant melanoma (CMM) according to demographic variables in an Iranian population. This retrospective study was conducted at a tertiary care university-affiliated cancer institute in Tehran, Iran. Medical records of all the patients diagnosed with CMM were reviewed between 2012 and 2018. The histopathologic and anatomical data were analyzed based on demographic characteristics of the patients. A total of 370 patients with CMM (58.4% female) were included in this study. The lower extremity (32%) and head and neck (29%) were the most common sites for initial occurrence of CMM. There was no statistically significant difference between male and female for anatomical location of CMM (p = 0.11). In men, 80% of the lesions were located on the right side of the body while in women, only 54% of the lesions were located on the right side (p = 0.03). Furthermore, CMM of the lower extremity occurred more commonly in the right side in men than it did in women (p = 0.04). However, women were more likely to have a right-sided head and neck lesion (p = 0.02). Among Iranian patients with CMM, lower extremity is, in general, the most common site of involvement in both genders. In men, the lesion is more commonly found on the right lower extremity while in women CMM presents more commonly on the right side of the head and neck. Keywords Cutaneous malignant melanoma . CMM . Anatomical distribution . Histopathologic variations . Sex difference . Gender Introduction Cutaneous melanoma is one of the most common forms of all malignant transformation of the melanocytes [1–3]. Although cutaneous malignant melanoma (CMM) comprises less than 5% percent of all the skin cancers, it is associated with an extremely high risk of mortality accounting for 75% of death from skin cancers [4]. One reason for the observed variation in the incidence rate of CMM might be inconsistent registration of heterogenous data among different populations [ 5]. Moreover, there are discrepancies in the anatomical distribu- tion of CMM across genders [5, 6]. Compared with other solid tumors which first develop after the age of 65 years old, CMM involves younger patients with a median age of 57 years [7]. One survey has estimated the annual incidence rate of CMM to be 0.3 per 100,000 among Iranian population [8]. However, there is lack of data on demographic and anatomical variations of melanoma in this population. Such a population- based study can provide the venue for establishment of indi- vidualized measures for prevention and treatment purposes. Our study aimed to evaluate demographics, anatomical varia- tions, and histopathologic characteristics of CMM according to genders in an Iranian population of patients. Materials and Methods This is a retrospective study conducted in the cancer institute of Imam Khomeini Hospital Complex in Tehran, Iran. The Imam Khomeini Medical Center Hospital-Based Cancer This article is part of the Topical Collection on Surgery * Saeed Shoar saeedshoar@ScientificWriting.org 1 Cancer Institute, Department of Surgery, Imam Khomeini Hospital Complex, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran 2 Department of Surgery, Shahed School of Medicine, Tehran, Iran 3 Department of Radiation Oncology, Princes Margaret Hospital, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada 4 Clinical Research Scientist, ScientificWriting Corporation, 6345 Garth Rd., Ste#110, P.B.#109, Baytown, TX 77521, USA SN Comprehensive Clinical Medicine https://doi.org/10.1007/s42399-019-00130-0