title: The staging of malignant melanoma and the Florida Melanoma Trial.
abstract: Lymphatic mapping and sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy have changed the standard of care for patients with malignant melanoma, by providing a less morbid procedure to obtain the nodal staging information that is critical for therapeutic decisions. Detailed examination of the SLN identifies patients who have an increased risk for recurrence and death. Patients whose melanoma is upstaged with very sensitive assays based on reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction technology are better targeted for clinical trials or surgical or adjuvant therapies. In the future, melanoma may be "ultrastaged" by examining the SLNs, peripheral blood, and bone marrow. This may improve identification of patients who are surgically cured of their disease and therefore can be spared the side effects of more radical surgery or the toxicities of adjuvant therapy. The lymphatic mapping procedure is the most accurate way to determine the tumor status of the regional lymph nodes.
authors.affiliation: Cutaneous Oncology Program, Lakeland Regional Cancer Center, Lakeland, Florida, USA. Doug.Reintgen@lrmc.com
authors.forename: Douglas S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Reintgen
authors.forename: James W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Jakub
authors.forename: Solange
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pendas
authors.forename: Gray
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Swor
authors.forename: Rosemary
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Giuliano
authors.forename: Steve
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shivers
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D005431:Florida; D006801:Humans; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008545:Melanoma / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology* / Q000556:secondary / Q000628:therapy; D008875:Middle Aged; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D021701:Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy