Surgical treatment of malignant melanoma: practical guidelines.
Melanoma is currently the fifth and sixth most common solid malignancy diagnosed in men and women, respectively. Although accounting for only 4% of cases of all cutaneous malignancies, melanoma accounts for more than 75% of all deaths from skin cancer. This article discusses epidemiology and risk factors, proper biopsy technique, advanced histologic evaluation of biopsy material, assessment of tumor thickness and staging, preoperative metastatic evaluation, excision margin, treatment of regional lymph nodes, treatment of recurrence, and some special clinical situations.
Institute of Reconstructive Plastic Surgery, Department of Plastic Surgery, New York University Langone Medical Center, New York, NY 10016, USA.
Steven M
SM
Levine
Richard L
RL
Shapiro
D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008197:Lymph Node Excision / Q000379:methods*; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008545:Melanoma / Q000473:pathology / Q000556:secondary / Q000601:surgery*; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D021701:Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy / Q000379:methods*; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*