Sentinel node biopsy for melanoma in the head and neck region.

Background: Lymphatic drainage in the head and neck region is known to be particularly complex. This study explores the value of sentinel node biopsy for melanoma in the head and neck region.

Methods: Thirty consecutive patients with clinically localized cutaneous melanoma in the head and neck region were included.

Identification and biopsy of the sentinel lymph node in breast cancer.

Aims: To examine the hypothesis that lymphatic dissemination in breast cancer occurs sequentially.

Methods: Thirty patients with clinically localized adenocarcinoma were studied. Patent blue dye was administered into the tumour at the beginning of a modified radical mastectomy or segmental mastectomy with en bloc axillary lymph-node dissection (ALND).

[Nothing gained from the determinations of plasma lactate levels in the evaluation of a patient with acute abdomen].

Objective: To establish the diagnostic value of laboratory tests, especially the plasma lactate concentration, for determination of the indication for acute surgery in patients with an acute abdomen.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: Kennemer Gasthuis, location Elisabeth Gasthuis, Haarlem, the Netherlands.

Localizing the sentinel node in cutaneous melanoma: gamma probe detection versus blue dye.

Background: Sentinel node (SN) biopsy can be used to select patients with melanoma for therapeutic lymphadenectomy. We investigated the value of two methods to locate the SN: patent blue dye (PBD) and gamma probe detection of 99mTc-nanocolloid.

Methods: One hundred ten patients with cutaneous melanoma were studied.