Open AccessFrequency of Occult Residual Melanoma After Excision of a Clinically Positive Regional Lymph Node
Author(s) -
Michael P. Kane,
Edward F. McClay,
Robert E. Bellet
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
annals of surgery
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.153
H-Index - 309
eISSN - 1528-1140
pISSN - 0003-4932
DOI - 10.1097/00000658-198701000-00016
Subject(s) - medicine , occult , melanoma , lymph node , dissection (medical) , lymph , biopsy , retrospective cohort study , stage (stratigraphy) , radiology , surgery , pathology , cancer research , paleontology , alternative medicine , biology
A retrospective study of the medical records of 102 patients with Stage II malignant melanoma was conducted to determine the frequency of occult residual melanoma after excision of a clinically positive regional lymph node. Twenty-one patients met the study criteria for evaluation. Fifteen of 22 dissections were positive for melanoma (68.1%). These results support definitive regional lymph node dissection if the results of excisional biopsy are abnormal. No conclusions can be drawn from these data regarding the survival advantage of therapeutic regional lymph node dissection.