Abstract
A strategy for the treatment of patients with cutaneous melanoma, who have regional lymph node swelling, is wide excision of the primary lesion and regional lymph node dissection or sentinel lymph node biopsy. However, occasionally in-transit metastasis occurs after regional lymph node dissection. Subtotal integumentectomy is applied to prevent in-transit metastasis, although the clinical usefulness of subtotal integumentectomy is still controversial. Therefore, we analyzed 19 cases who had subtotal integumentectomy in our departments. The prognosis of the patients who had subtotal integumentectomy is better than those without. Therefore, subtotal integumentectomy is an optional method for treating patients at high risk for in-transit metastasis. [Skin Cancer (Japan) 2006; 21: 53-57]
