Demographics of malignant melanoma in Trinidad and Tobago

INTRODUCTION: This study aims to describe the demographics of malignant melanoma (MM) in Trinidad and Tobago. METHODS: All cases of MM for the period 2004-2019 were analysed with data collected on age, gender, histological subtype, anatomical location, Clark Staging, Breslow thickness/American Joint Committee on Cancer 8 guidelines. RESULTS: =42) included not otherwise specified (27; 64.3%), nodular melanoma (NM) (6; 14.3%), acral lentiginous melanoma (ALM) (4; 9.5%), spindle cell (3; 7.1%), superficial spreading melanoma (SSM) (1; 2.4%), amelanotic melanoma (AM) (1; 2.4%). Breslow thickness and the Clark classification were used for 23 and 16 patients, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: There were 54 cases diagnosed over 16 years serving a catchment of 700,000 persons giving an incidence rate of 0.482 per 100,000 persons per annum and a prevalence of 0.01%. African ethnicity was dominant (83.3%) with the lower limb, trunk and upper limb being most commonly affected. There is a major need for better recording of data, staging and treating this disease in the Caribbean region.