The following is a summary of “Melanocytic neoplasms in neurofibromatosis type 1: a systematic review,” published in the December 2023 issue of Dermatology by Meyer, et al.
Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is often changed in melanoma, but little is known about the chance of melanoma in people with NF1. For a study, researchers sought to look into the risks and features of melanoma and melanocytic nevi in people with NF1.
It was looked through PubMed for articles that talked about NF1 people who had melanoma or melanocytic nevi. Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results statistics were used to compare people with skin and eye melanomas to the rest of the community. 53 articles talked about 188 NF1 cases (melanoma n=82, melanocytic nevi n=93, and melanocytic nevi n=13).
People with NF1 who had cutaneous melanomas were diagnosed with melanoma 49.1 years earlier than the general population (P = 0.012), their tumors were thicker (3.7 mm vs. 1.2 mm, P = 0.006), and they died more often from the disease (27.3% vs. 8.6%, P = 0.005) and for shorter periods (12.9 vs. 34.2 months, P = 0.011). Eye melanomas comprised 15.0% of all melanomas in people with NF1 but only 1.5% in the general group (P < 0.001). When all the population-based studies about melanoma in NF1 groups were added together, it was found that NF1 people had 2.55 times higher chances of having melanoma than the general population. Among NF1 people with nevi, a nevus spilus was found in 44.8% (39/87) of them.
The results showed that people with NF1 may be more likely to get melanomas, have larger melanomas, and have shorter survival rates than the general population. It showed how important it is to monitor NF1 patients’ skin and eyes. The link between NF1 and nevus spilus was also supported by the study.
