In the five patients (four women; one man) with the
BRAF mutation, the mean age at initial diagnosis was 60 years (range, 30–77 years). The mean largest tumor dimension was 11.6 mm (range, 6–20 mm). In the 17 patients (11 women; 6 men) with no
BRAF gene mutation the mean age at initial diagnosis was 65 years (range, 30–83 years). The mean largest tumor dimension was 8.2 mm (range, 2–18 mm). The tumor was located in a sun-exposed site in 3 of the 5 cases with the
BRAF mutation and in 12 of the 17 cases with the wild-type
BRAF gene. In our study four of the five melanomas containing the
BRAF mutation were composed solely of epithelioid type cells and in one case contained a mixture of epithelioid and spindle cells. In contrast, the melanomas with a wild-type
BRAF gene were composed solely of epithelioid cells in seven cases and in eight cases were composed of a mixture of cell types and in two of only spindle cells. In the melanomas containing the
BRAF gene mutation the mean maximum depth of invasion was 6.1 mm (range, 0.5–11 mm) and areas of necrosis were present in two of the five cases. In the melanomas with a wild-type
BRAF gene the mean maximum depth of invasion was 3.2 mm (range, 0.2–10 mm) and 0 of the 17 cases contained areas of necrosis. In five cases (one with and four without the
BRAF gene mutation) the tumor extended to the deep resection margin. In these five cases the measurement to the deep resection margin was recorded as the maximum depth of invasion. PAM was present in 2 of the 5 melanomas with the
BRAF mutation and in 12 of the 17 with a wild-type
BRAF gene. In three of the five cases with the
BRAF mutation, the melanoma had recurred and radical surgery (enucleation or exenteration) was necessary in two cases. In 12 of the 17 cases with the wild-type
BRAF gene the melanoma had recurred, and radical surgery was necessary in 4 cases. According to the Fisher exact test, only the presence of necrosis reached a significance of
P < 0.05. The clinical and pathologic features are summarized in
Table 1 .