Staging of cutaneous melanoma

The American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) staging of cutaneous melanoma is a continuously evolving system. The identification of increasingly more accurate prognostic factors has led to major changes in melanoma staging over the years, and the current system described in this review will likely be modified in the near future. Likewise, application of new imaging techniques has also changed the staging work-up of patients with cutaneous melanoma. Chest and abdominal computed tomography (CT) scanning is most commonly used for evaluation of potential metastatic sites in the lungs, lymph nodes and liver, and is indicated in patients with new symptoms, anaemia, elevated lactate dehydrogenase or a chest X-ray abnormality. CT scans should be restricted to patients with high-risk melanoma (stage IIC, IIIB, IIIC and stage IIIA with a macroscopic sentinel lymph node). Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain is a mandatory test in patients with stage IV, optional in stage III and not used in patients with stage I and II disease. Positron emission tomography (PET)/CT is more accurate than CT or MRI alone in the diagnosis of metastases and should complement conventional CT/MRI imaging in the staging work-up of patients who have solitary or oligometastatic disease where surgical resection is most relevant

Reproducibility of detection of tyrosinase and MART-1 transcripts in the peripheral blood of melanoma patients: a quality control study using real-time quantitative RT-PCR

Item does not contain fulltext9 p

Computed tomography in staging of patients with melanoma metastatic to the regional nodes

Background: This study addresses the yield and clinical impact of computed tomography (CT) imaging in otherwise asymptomatic patients with stage III melanoma metastatic to the regional nodes.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/41414/1/10434_2006_Article_BF02305552.pd

Recent Advances in Melanoma Staging and Therapy

Background: Recent advances in the staging and treatment of melanoma were reviewed.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/41420/1/10434_1999_Article_467.pd