Skin Cancer Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Skin Cancer, including details on identification, causes, prevention, treatment.

The role of sentinel lymph node biopsy in the management of thin melanoma.

Wong SL

Department of Surgery, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, 1275 York Ave., Box 435, New York, NY 10021, USA. wongs2@mskcc.org

The lifetime risk for developing thin (< or =1 mm) melanoma continues to increase steadily. Although generally associated with an excellent prognosis, it also has a proven capacity to metastasize. There has been increasing interest in using sentinel lymph node biopsy to improve staging for thin melanoma. However, it is difficult to define clinicopathologic factors that reliably predict the presence of nodal metastasis. The prognostic significance of a positive sentinel lymph node in thin melanoma remains to be defined.

Published 18 July 2005 in Am J Surg, 190(2): 196-9.
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