The initial route of metastasis for many cancers, including melanoma, is via regional lymphatic channels. This fact, recognized more than a century ago, has spurred tremendous interest in the optimal method of assessing and treating lymph nodes and eventually led to the development of lymphatic mapping and sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy. The potential utility of nodal treatment includes providing the most accurate staging or prognostic information and removing early metastases in order to halt the cascade of metastatic spread in an effort to save the patient's life.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCancers (Basel)
October 2024
Starting with its earliest descriptions, melanoma has been recognized as a tumor with a predilection for metastasis to regional lymph nodes. This tendency led to initial recommendations for very aggressive early surgical management of the regional nodal basin. However, those recommendations were the source of much controversy over nearly a century, until the minimally invasive surgical technique of sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy was developed by Morton, Cochran and colleagues.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCancer Treat Res Commun
December 2024
Background: The autologous tumor lysate, particle-loaded, dendritic cell (TLPLDC) vaccine is produced from dendritic cells (DC) loaded ex vivo with autologous tumor lysate (TL). TLPLDC has been shown to decrease recurrence in resected Stage III/IV melanoma patients in a Phase IIb trial. The TL particle only (TLPO) vaccine is produced by loading of yeast cell wall particles with autologous TL and direct injection allowing for in vivo DC loading.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFImportance: While smoking is associated with a decreased incidence of cutaneous melanoma, the association of smoking with melanoma progression and death is not well defined.
Objective: To determine the association of smoking with survival in patients with early-stage primary cutaneous melanoma.
Design, Setting, And Participants: This cohort study performed a post hoc analysis of data derived from the randomized, multinational first and second Multicenter Selective Lymphadenectomy Trials (MSLT-I and MSLT-II).
Clin Exp Metastasis
August 2024
Lymphatic metastasis is the dominant route of initial spread for most solid tumors. For many such malignancies, including melanomas, surgical treatment previously included removal of all potentially draining regional lymph nodes (elective node dissection). The advent of lymphatic mapping and sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy allowed accurate pathologic assessment of the metastatic status of regional nodes and spared patients full dissection if their SLN was clear.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWith the activity of adjuvant immunotherapy, is sentinel lymph node biopsy still needed in melanoma?
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Sentinel lymph node biopsy is not routinely recommended for T1a cutaneous melanoma due to the overall low risk of positivity. Prognostic factors for positive sentinel lymph node (SLN) in this population are poorly characterized.
Objective: To determine factors associated with SLN in patients with T1a melanoma.
Cancer Immunol Immunother
March 2023
Background: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 2b trial of the tumor lysate, particle-loaded, dendritic cell (TLPLDC) vaccine was conducted in patients with resected stage III/IV melanoma. Dendritic cells (DCs) were harvested with and without granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF). This analysis investigates differences in clinical outcomes and RNA gene expression between DC harvest methods.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFImportance: Sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy is a standard staging procedure for cutaneous melanoma. Regional disease control is a clinically important therapeutic goal of surgical intervention, including nodal surgery.
Objective: To determine how frequently SLN biopsy without completion lymph node dissection (CLND) results in long-term regional nodal disease control in patients with SLN metastases.
Background: Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is a rare cutaneous malignancy for which factors predictive of disease-specific survival (DSS) are poorly defined.
Methods: Patients from six centers (2005-2020) with clinical stage I-II MCC who underwent sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy were included. Factors associated with DSS were identified using competing-risks regression analysis.
Background: Minimally invasive inguinal lymphadenectomy (MILND) is safe and feasible, but limited data exist regarding oncologic outcomes.
Methods: This study performed a multi-institutional retrospective cohort analysis of consecutive MILND performed for melanoma between January 2009 and June 2016. The open ILND (OILND) comparative cohort comprised patients enrolled in the second Multicenter Selective Lymphadenectomy Trial (MSLT-II) between December 2004 and March 2014.
Background: Nodal staging systems vary substantially across solid tumors, implying heterogeneity in the behavior of nodal variables in various contexts. We hypothesized, in contradiction to this, that metastatic lymph node (LN) number is a universal and dominant predictor of outcome across solid tumors.
Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort analysis of 1 304 498 patients in the National Cancer Database undergoing surgery between 2004 and 2015 across 16 solid cancer sites.
Purpose: As clinical management decisions in patients with Stage III melanoma have become more complex, precise pathologic characterization of sentinel lymph node (SLN) metastases has become critical to guide management. The extent of SLN involvement correlates with risk of adverse outcomes, but reported methods of disease quantification vary. We examined SLN metastases from patients participating in an international clinical trial and compared several methods of tumor burden quantification.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNail unit melanocytic lesions present a unique set of diagnostic challenges because of the unfamiliarity with clinical assessment and the lack of experience with histologic examination. Because the first surgical specimen received in the pathology laboratory is typically small, sometimes suboptimal biopsy, the distinction between melanoma and its histologic mimics can be difficult. For this reason, there has been a continued interest in the development of ancillary markers that may assist in the differential diagnosis of nail unit melanocytic lesions.
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