title: [Study of the sentinel lymph node. Diagnosis and treatment of cutaneous malignant melanoma stages I and II].
abstract: Survival at 5 years of patients with localized primary malignant melanoma is about 80%, compared with a 35% survival in case of lymph nodes involvement. Sentinel lymph node(s) from 45 subjects with diagnosis of malignant melanoma stage I or II was/were studied with hematoxylin-eosin (HE), immunohistochemistry (IHC) and molecular biology (MB) techniques. The population was divided into three groups: HE-/IHC+/MB+, where 67% patients died; HE-/IHC-/MB+, where 57% died; and HE-/IHC-/MB-, where 100% of the patients are alive, with no lymphadenectomy and a median follow-up of 60 months. Those subjects who showed negativity with all the three methods had a null recurrence rate. Data herein obtained suggest a new molecular oncological staging, which would allow the selection of patients with submicroscopic metastases for a complete treatment. Moreover, several patients with no lymph node metastases should not undergo lymphadenectomies, and overtreatment could therefore be avoided.
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Patología, Centro de Educación Medica e Investigaciones Clínicas Hospital de Clínicas José de San Martín, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Buenos Aires.
authors.forename: Valeria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Denninghoff
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Falco
authors.forename: H Pablo
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Curutchet
authors.forename: Boris
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Elsner
mesh_terms: D001118:Argentina / Q000453:epidemiology; D004801:Eosine Yellowish-(YS); D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006416:Hematoxylin; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008545:Melanoma / Q000401:mortality / Q000556:secondary* / Q000628:therapy; D014442:Monophenol Monooxygenase; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D011446:Prospective Studies; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy
chemical_list: D014442:Monophenol Monooxygenase; D004801:Eosine Yellowish-(YS); D006416:Hematoxylin