Years of life lost in patients with a false-negative diagnosis of primary melanoma. A prospective study of the German Central Malignant Melanoma Registry involving 9063 patients over 28 years

作者：Claus Garbe, Ulrike Keim, Teresa Amaral, Paolo A. Ascierto, Jürgen Bauer, Reinhard Dummer, Alexander M. M. Eggermont, Thomas Eigentler, Lukas Flatz, Stephan Forchhammer, Andrea Forschner, Sara Gandini, Jeffrey E. Gershenwald, Axel Hauschild, Christoph Höeller, John M. Kirkwood, Célèste Lebbé, Georgina V. Long, Paul Lorigan, Jason J. Luke, Friedegund Meier, Gisela Metzler, Paul Nathan, Michael A. Postow, Caroline Robert, Martin Röcken, Dirk Schadendorf, Benjamin Weide, David C. Whiteman, Ulrike Leiter, Peter Martus · 发表于：Nature Communications · 年份：2026 · DOI：10.1038/s41467-026-74443-9 · 研究领域：Cutaneous Melanoma Detection and Management、Melanoma and MAPK Pathways、melanin and skin pigmentation

A false-negative diagnosis of cancer can lead to a delay in effective treatment and a poorer prognosis. Here, we use the example of cutaneous melanoma to examine how many years of life are lost after a false-negative diagnosis compared to a primarily correct diagnosis. From 1996 to 2015, 9,063 patients are prospectively registered in the German Central Malignant Melanoma Registry and followed up until December 2023. A false-negative diagnosis is found in 206 (2.3%) patients. The median time to correct diagnosis is 24.0 months. The 10-year recurrence-free survival probabilities are 32.9% for false-negative diagnoses and 76.2% for correct diagnoses (p < 0.001). The 10-year melanoma-specific survival probabilities are 62.1% versus 85.0% (p < 0.001). On average, each person with an initial false-negative diagnosis loses 8.2 years of life compared to people with a correct diagnosis. This high number of years of life lost raises the question of whether similar results also apply to other types of cancer.