Metastasis of melanoma in non-sentinel nodes in patients with metastatic sentinel node. Can we avoid complementary lymphadenectomy?

Background: Lymph mapping with sentinel node biopsy is the standard procedure for lymph node staging in patients with cutaneous melanoma with a tumor thickness of 1 mm or greater. Patients who have metastases in sentinel node must undergo complementary lymphadenectomy; however, it has not been shown to improve survival.

Objective: To know the prevalence in our setting of metastases in the product of complementary lymphadenectomy in patients with metastatic sentinel node.