title: Sentinel lymph node biopsy from the vantage point of an oncologic surgeon.
abstract: Sentinel lymph node biopsy has greatly influenced the surgical management of clinically localized primary melanoma. Lymphatic mapping and sentinel lymph node biopsy have been used for the selective management of the draining regional lymph node basin of primary cutaneous melanoma. Oncologic surgeons have adopted this procedure to selectively identify occult nodal status in melanoma patients who are at a higher risk of regional metastasis. The current standard of treatment of tumor-positive sentinel lymph node metastasis is immediate completion lymphadenectomy, but considerable debate surrounds the utility of this procedure. This contribution reviews development, technical aspects, selective management of the lymph node basin, and sentinel lymph node biopsy techniques.
authors.affiliation: The Carole and Ray Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Connecticut Health Center, 263 Farmington Avenue, Farmington, CT 06030, USA. lowilson@uchc.edu
authors.forename: Lori L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Wilson
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008197:Lymph Node Excision / Q000379:methods; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008495:Medical Oncology / Q000592:standards / Q000639:trends; D008545:Melanoma / Q000473:pathology / Q000556:secondary* / Q000601:surgery*; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness / Q000473:pathology*; D009367:Neoplasm Staging / Q000379:methods*; D018579:Patient Selection; D011379:Prognosis; D018570:Risk Assessment; D021701:Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*