Abstract
A 69-year-old man had a 16×18mm-sized ulcerated blackish nodule on his right retroauricular area. The clinical diagnosis was malignant melanoma, and we performed wide primary resection and sentinel node biopsy; one sentinel node was identified in his right parotid gland. The sentinel node was negative for tumor cells. Six months later, however, he noticed a subcutaneous nodule on his right infraauricular area. CT examination revealed two swollen parotid lymph nodes. We performed total parotidectomy with radical neck dissection. Metastases to multiple parotid lymph nodes and two upper jugular nodes were detected. False negative sentinel nodes may not be uncommon in malignant melanoma of the head and neck. [Skin Cancer (Japan) 2008; 23: 180-183]
