Current management of melanoma: benefits of surgical staging and adjuvant therapy.

Issues regarding appropriate management of stage I to III melanoma are addressed. Accurate surgical staging is critical to identifying patients who can benefit from therapeutic lymph node dissection and adjuvant therapy. Patients with primary tumors > or = 1 mm thick are appropriate candidates for sentinel lymph node biopsy, and node-positive patients benefit from therapeutic lymphadenectomy. Although the overall survival benefit of high-dose interferon has been questioned, the weight of evidence supports the use of adjuvant therapy in patients with stage IIB and III disease.