Introduction: Cutaneous melanoma is a malignant tumor that arises from melanocytes. Worldwide incidence of melanoma has steadily increased over the last several decades especially in Caucasian population. In Africa, melanoma is rare but is associated with a worse prognosis than in Caucasians.

Methods and materials: The aim of our study is to precise the epidemiological, clinicopathological features and histo-prognosis factors that characterized 27 melanoma cases diagnosed from January 2006 to December 2018, at the pathology department of Ibn Sina hospital in Rabat.

Results: The average age of our patients was 57,3 years old. Of the 27 patients included in the study, 18 were women and 9 were men. The median time from onset to the primary care visit was estimated at 16 months.

Fourty four percent of cutaneous melanomas were located on acral sites, most commonly the foot and the most common histopathological subtype was acral lentiginous (57%). Twenty patients had a Breslow thickness higher than 2,1 mm (median 4,9mm). Fifteen patients had a high Clark level (IV) (55,5%) and ulceration was observed in thirteen patients (48%). Twelve of the 27 patients (45 %) had invasive melanoma at diagnosis (stage III to IV) whereas only two patients (7%) had melanoma at stage I.

Conclusion: Our study shows that most of our patients presented with an advanced stage of disease at diagnosis, supporting a poor prognosis. This could be explained by the significant delay of consultation.

These results suggest that increased awareness of melanoma and early diagnosis are needed to improve survival.

Keywords: Cutaneous Melanoma, Clinical Features, Pathological Features, Melanocytic Origin, Skin Cancer.