Completion lymph node dissection in melanoma patients with positive sentinel lymph nodes

摘要

In most centres, melanoma patients with positive sentinel nodes (SNs) are offered completion lymph node dissection (CLND) of the regional node field to remove additional, clinically-occult nodal metastases, which are identified in 15—20% of cases. In attempts to determine whether CLND may safely be withheld in a subset of SN-positive patients, several studies have investigated clinico-pathological parameters that predict the risk of non-SN (NSN) metastasis. These studies have yielded varied results, prompting Nagaraja and Eslick to perform a meta-analysis of 54 studies published between 1998 and 2012.