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.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/45875/1/10434_2006_Article_10237.pd

Method of determining melanoma micrometastasis using tyrosinase

A highly sensitive method to detect melanoma micrometastasis by examining lymph nodes for the presence of tyrosinase messenger RNA. In a preferred mode, this is accomplished using the combination of reverse transcription and double round polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The amplified samples are examined on a 2% agarose gel and tyrosinase is seen as a 207 base pair fragment. The lymph nodes examined are determined using pre- and intra- operative node mapping