The prognostic importance of sentinel lymph node biopsy in thin melanoma.

Background: Sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) is prognostically useful in patients with cutaneous melanoma with Breslow thickness > 1 mm. The objective of this study was to determine whether sentinel node histology has similar prognostic importance in patients with thin melanomas (< or = 1 mm).

Methods: This was a retrospective study of patients who underwent SLNB for clinically localized melanoma at Indiana University Medical Center between 1994 and 2003.

Lack of prognostic importance of reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction detection of circulating messenger RNA in patients with melanoma.

Background: Molecular serologic markers for detecting early melanoma metastases have been described. The objective of this study was to determine whether reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction detection of circulating tyrosinase messenger RNA (mRNA) can identify the presence of subclinical metastases and predict subsequent clinical recurrence in surgically treated melanoma patients who are at significant risk for relapse.

Methods: Preoperative peripheral blood samples of disease-free melanoma patients, disease stage ranging from I to IV, were analyzed for the presence of tyrosinase mRNA by semiquantitative reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction as a putative marker for circulating melanoma cells.

Sentinel lymph node biopsy in children and adolescents with malignant melanoma.

Background/purpose: Sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) provides valuable staging information for adult patients presenting with clinically localized cutaneous melanoma. There are little data pertaining to the use of SLNB in the pediatric melanoma population. The objective of this study is to investigate the use of SLNB in the pediatric population, focusing on its diagnostic and therapeutic implications.

Prognostic importance of lymph node tumor burden in melanoma patients staged by sentinel node biopsy.

Background: The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between nodal tumor burden and the outcomes of recurrence and survival in sentinel node-positive melanoma patients.

Methods: We reviewed a series of sentinel node-positive patients with primary cutaneous melanoma treated with completion lymph node dissection (CLND). Microscopic nodal tumor deposits were counted and measured with an ocular micrometer.