Surgery versus endoscopic cauterization in patients with third or fourth branchial pouch sinuses: A systematic review.

Objectives: To systematically review the current literature on treatment of third and fourth branchial pouch sinuses with endoscopic cauterization, including chemocauterization and electrocauterization, in comparison to surgical treatment.

Data Sources: PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library.

Review Methods: We conducted a systematic search.

Cadaver study on the location of suboccipital lymph nodes: Guidance for suboccipital node dissection.

Background: The purpose of this study was to provide anatomic guidance for the extent (technique) of suboccipital node dissection.

Methods: Five human cadaver necks (9 sides) were studied. Boundaries were the superior nuchal line and external occipital protuberance (cranial), the nuchal ligament (medial), an imaginary line through C7 (caudal), and the posterior wall of the auditory channel (anterior).

Lymphatic drainage of melanomas located on the manubrium sterni to cervical lymph nodes: a case series assessed by SPECT/CT.

The lymphatic drainage of cutaneous melanomas located on the upper trunk is often complex and sometimes follows an unexpected pattern. Occasionally, even direct drainage to cervical lymph nodes is seen. In this case series, 3 patients with lymphatic drainage to the neck derived from melanomas located over the manubrium sterni are described.

Five-year follow-up of 16 melanoma patients with a Starz I-involved sentinel node in whom completion lymph node dissection was omitted.

The aim of the study was to determine the incidence of lymph node recurrence in 16 melanoma patients with a minimal metastasis (Starz level I) in a sentinel node in whom a completion lymph node dissection was omitted. A secondary aim was to examine whether other melanoma-related recurrences developed. Sixteen melanoma patients with an SI-involved sentinel node, who did not undergo completion lymph node dissection, were followed for a median of 66 months.

Lymphatic drainage patterns from melanomas on the shoulder or upper trunk to cervical lymph nodes and implications for the extent of neck dissection.

Purpose: To determine the incidence and pattern of cervical lymphatic drainage in patients with melanomas located on the upper limb or trunk, and to evaluate our current neck dissection protocol for those patients with a N+ neck.

Methods: Of 1192 melanoma patients who underwent sentinel node biopsy, 631 were selected with a primary tumor on the upper limb or trunk. All lymphoscintigrams, SPECT/CT images and operative reports were reviewed to determine the exact locations of sentinel nodes visualized preoperatively and dissected during operation.

Decisive role of SPECT/CT in localization of unusual periscapular sentinel nodes in patients with posterior trunk melanoma: three illustrative cases and a review of the literature.

Sentinel node mapping is widely applied in patients with melanoma. Although this type of skin cancer usually drains to the standard regional nodal basins, some patients have drainage to an unpredicted site. Nodes lying along a lymphatic channel, between the primary melanoma site and a common basin, are often called interval, in-transit, ectopic, intercalated, or aberrant nodes.

The additional value of lymphatic mapping with routine SPECT/CT in unselected patients with clinically localized melanoma.

Purpose: To investigate whether single photon emission computed tomography camera with integrated radiographic computed tomography (SPECT/CT) is of additional value compared to conventional lymphoscintigraphy in routine lymphatic mapping in patients with melanoma.

Methods: Thirty-five unselected patients with a primary melanoma who were scheduled for wide local excision and sentinel node biopsy underwent conventional lymphoscintigraphy and subsequently SPECT/CT. We determined whether SPECT/CT showed additional sentinel nodes, whether it provided better information on the location of the sentinel nodes, and whether this additional anatomic information led to a change in the planned surgical approach.

Less false-negative sentinel node procedures in melanoma patients with experience and proper collaboration.

Background And Objectives: The aims of the study were to determine the percentage of false-negative sentinel node procedures in melanoma patients, to investigate the time cohort of these recurrences, whether a learning phase was involved and to search for causes of the failures.

Methods: Between December 1993 and December 2008, 708 melanoma patients underwent a sentinel node biopsy. The procedure was considered false-negative if a recurrence developed in the basin from which a tumor-free sentinel node had been removed.

Assessment of lymphatic drainage patterns and implications for the extent of neck dissection in head and neck melanoma patients.

Background And Objectives: The aim of this study is to evaluate lymphatic drainage with sentinel node location data in patients with head and neck cutaneous melanoma, and to determine the implications for the extent of therapeutic neck dissections.

Methods: Sixty-five patients with head and neck cutaneous melanoma without evidence of regional metastases at ultrasound guided fine needle aspiration cytology examination were included. Lymphatic drainage patterns were investigated using planar and dynamic lymphoscintigraphy, and SPECT/CT.

Reevaluation of the locoregional recurrence rate in melanoma patients with a positive sentinel node compared to patients with palpable nodal involvement.

Background: The main aims of this study were to evaluate the occurrence of the various forms of locoregional recurrence in sentinel node-positive melanoma patients, to determine whether the different definitions that are being used to describe in-transit metastases influence this rate, and to identify factors associated with locoregional recurrence. A comparison was made with the rate of locoregional recurrence in patients who underwent lymph node dissection for palpable metastases.

Methods: Between December 1993 and December 2008, a total of 141 patients underwent completion lymph node dissection because of a tumor-positive sentinel node.