Annals of surgical oncology
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Multicenter Study Comparative Study
Melanoma patients with positive sentinel nodes who did not undergo completion lymphadenectomy: a multi-institutional study.
Completion lymph node dissection (CLND) is considered the standard of care in melanoma patients found to have sentinel lymph node (SLN) metastasis. However, the therapeutic utility of CLND is not known. The natural history of patients with positive SLNs who do not undergo CLND is undefined. This multi-institutional study was undertaken to characterize patterns of failure and survival rates in these patients and to compare results with those of positive-SLN patients who underwent CLND. ⋯ This study underscores the importance of ongoing prospective randomized trials in determining the therapeutic value of CLND after positive SLN biopsy in melanoma patients.