Therapeutic node dissections in malignant melanoma

✍ Scribed by Constantine P. Karakousis

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 325 KB
• Volume: 14
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 8756-0437
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1098-2388(199806)14:4<291::aid-ssu5>3.0.co;2-y

✦ Synopsis

In the absence of distant disease, therapeutic node dissections in malignant melanoma, i.e., dissections of regional nodal basins for palpable suspicious or biopsy-proven positive nodes, offer the chance of cure. The 5-year survival rates after therapeutic lymphadenectomy closely correlate with expected cure rates. Although they varied greatly in the literature, from 19% to 38%, the currently obtainable survival rates are in the upper ranges of this spectrum because patients now are closely followed-up and operated for early palpable nodal disease. Properly done, these procedures carry a low morbidity, but they should be done thoroughly to completely eradicate regional disease and avoid recurrences in the same nodal basin to achieve the maximum survival that is surgically attainable.