Open AccessPrimary Solitary Melanoma of the Lymphatic Nodes Or a Single Metastasis of Unknown Melanoma: Do We Need a New Staging System?
Author(s) -
Georgi Tchernev,
Anastasiya Atanasova Chokoeva,
Lyubomira Victor Popova
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
open access macedonian journal of medical sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.288
H-Index - 17
ISSN - 1857-9655
DOI - 10.3889/oamjms.2017.222
Subject(s) - medicine , melanoma , lymph , metastasis , lymph node , stage (stratigraphy) , dermatology , pathology , radiology , cancer , cancer research , paleontology , biology
Malignant melanoma is a disease which has a cutaneous origin in 90% of the patients, but in rare cases, it could be discovered as secondary deposits with unknown primary site. Metastatic Malignant Melanoma occurs without a primary site in about 3% of all melanoma patients, and it could be divided into two main groups: metastatic lymph nodes' involvement or non-lymph nodes disease. The lack of unified classification and staging system, provided by AJCC (2009), as well as the lack for curtain diagnostic and therapeutic protocol, prompt us to raise the question what is the right way to precede in cases of metastasis of the lymph nodes, without evidence of a primary tumour?