An Analysis of Elective Lymphadenectomy and Sentinel Node Biopsy of Malignant Melanoma

Abstract

We reviewed 98 malignant melanoma patients who underwent elective lymphadenectomy or sentinel node biopsy. The five year melanoma-specific survival rate was 95.5% among patients with tumor-negative nodes and 71.3% among those with tumor-positive nodes (p=0.01680). The five year melanoma-specific survival rate was 73.3% among patients with nodal micrometastases of sentinel node or elective lymphadenectomy, and 23.4% among those with nodal macrometastases (p=0.01920). Our results indicate that sentinel node biopsy provides important prognostic information and that patients with occult nodal micrometastases may be rescued by this procedure.