Incidence and survival of ocular melanoma in National Cancer Registry of Poland in 2010-2017

Background. Oncology trends are based on data coming from different countries and ocular melanoma is the most common primary eye cancer in adults. Objectives. To investigate the incidence and characteristics of ocular melanoma in the overall population of Poland. Materials and methods. The retrospective survey of both the National Cancer Registry (NCR) and National Health Fund (NHF) databases was performed to identify all ocular melanoma cases in Poland in 2010-2017. Results. The mean incidence of ocular melanoma was 8.76/1,000,000 person-years; the lowest incidence was observed in the 19-29 age group (1.17/1,000,000 person-years) and the highest in the group over 70 (22.88/1,000,000 person-years). There were no statistically significant trends in the incidence rates over the study period. The overall incidences of uveal, eyelid and conjunctival melanoma were 6.67/1,000,000, 0.47/1,000,000 and 0.28/1,000,000 person-years, respectively. The 5-year overall survival (OS) was 60.76%; the higher risk of death was associated with male sex (hazard ratio (HR) = 1.2959), older age at diagnosis (HR = 1.0379), chemotherapy treatment (HR = 1.6774), metastasis (HR = 1.5716), loco-regional hyperplasia (HR = 1.5936), and systemic tumor spread (HR = 3.9872), compared to the carcinoma in situ. The risk of death was reduced by radiotherapy treatment (HR = 0.6645). Conclusions. The incidence rate of ocular melanoma in Poland is in the middle of the range worldwide, and the 5-year OS is relatively low.