Presence of Circulating Tumor Cells Predates Imaging Detection of Relapse in Patients with Stage III Melanoma.

Stage III melanoma includes nodal metastasis or in-transit disease. Five-year survival rates vary between 32% and 93%. The identification of high-risk patients is important for clinical decision making.

Circulating Tumor Cells and Early Relapse in Node-positive Melanoma.

Purpose: There is a need for sensitive, reproducible biomarkers for patients with stage III melanoma to guide clinical decision making. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) can be detected in patients with melanoma; however, there are limited data regarding their significance in stage III disease. The aim of this study was to determine whether CTCs are associated with early relapse in stage III melanoma.