Prognostic implications of thick (>or=4-mm) melanoma in the era of intraoperative lymphatic mapping and sentinel lymphadenectomy.
BACKGROUND
Lymphatic mapping/sentinel lymphadenectomy (LM/SL) has become a routine part of our treatment algorithm for primary melanoma, yet its role in the management of thick (>or=4-mm) lesions is unknown.


METHODS
One hundred twenty-one patients with thick primaries underwent LM/SL at our institute. Survival curves were constructed from Kaplan-Meier estimates and analyzed by Cox proportional hazards methods.


RESULTS
Sixty-three percent of patients were men, median age 54 years. The primary tumor sites were trunk (46%), extremities (32%), and head and neck (21%). Primary thickness ranged from 4 to 15 mm (median, 6.0 mm). Forty-five percent of primary tumors were ulcerated. Thirty-five percent of patients had tumor-positive dissections. Median follow-up was 31 months. The overall 5-year survival was no different (P =.726) for ulcerated and nonulcerated lesions. There was no difference (P =.159) in overall survival after tumor-negative (60% +/- 7%) and tumor-positive (50% +/- 10%) dissections. The 5-year disease-free survival was significantly (P =.012) lower in patients with tumor-positive (34% +/- 9%) than tumor-negative (47% +/- 7%) dissections.


CONCLUSIONS
Although LM/SL has become a popular technique for staging the regional lymph nodes in early-stage melanoma, our results suggest that sentinel node status is predictive of disease-free survival for thick primary tumors but is not yet reflective of overall survival. The role of LM/SL for patients with thick primary tumors is not clearly defined.
Essner
Richard
R
Roy E. Coats Research Laboratories of the John Wayne Cancer Institute at Saint John's Health Center, Santa Monica, California 90404, USA. essner@jwci.org
Chung
Mathew H
MH
Bleicher
Richard
R
Hsueh
Eddy
E
Wanek
Leslie
L
Morton
Donald L
DL
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004396:Coloring Agents; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008197:Lymph Node Excision; D008297:Male; D008545:Melanoma / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012394:Rosaniline Dyes; D021701:Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D016019:Survival Analysis
D004396:Coloring Agents; D012394:Rosaniline Dyes; C025484:iso-sulfan blue