Significance of multiple nodal basin drainage in patients with truncal melanoma.
BACKGROUND
Assessing whether an association exists between drainage to multiple basins and lymphatic metastasis in patients with truncal melanoma (TM).


METHODS
The study included 260 patients with primary TM (163 men; median age 56.5 y/o) with a cN0 M0, who underwent a sentinel lymph node scintigraphy and biopsy. The median tumor thickness (TT) was 1.51 mm.


RESULTS
One hundred and three patients showed more than one basin; of these, 95 patients had 2 basins, 6 had 3 basins, and 2 had 4 basins of drainage. Nodal histology was positive for metastatic disease in 65 patients, of whom, 40 had 1 basin, 24 had 2 basins and 1 had 3 basins of drainage. Of the 195 node-negative patients, 116 had 1 basin, 70 had 2 basins, 5 had 3 basins, and 2 had 4 basins of drainage (P=0.89). In a median follow-up of 36 months, 26 patients showed progressive disease, of whom 15 had 1 basin and 11 had 2 basins (P=0.76). Twenty patients died, of whom 11 had 1 basin and 9 had 2 basins (P=0.8).


CONCLUSIONS
There is no significant association between the number of drainage basins and sentinel node positivity or further progress of the disease in patients with TM.
Department of Nuclear Medicine, University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, Germany - hojjat.ahmadzadehfar@ukb.uni-bonn.de.
Hojjat
H
Ahmadzadehfar
Torsten
T
Hinz
Anja
A
Wierzbicki
Tobias
T
Höller
Elham
E
Habibi
Jörg
J
Wenzel
Marianne
M
Muckle
Hans J
HJ
Biersack
Markus
M
Essler
Monika
M
Schmid-Wendtner
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008545:Melanoma / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000601:surgery; D008875:Middle Aged; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012306:Risk; D021701:Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000601:surgery; D016896:Treatment Outcome