[Cutaneous melanoma; diagnostic procedures and their evaluation in diagnosing and mapping sentinel nodes. Part 2]

The second part of this review describes the advantages, and evaluates the radionuclide-guided methods for sentinel lymph node localization and also evaluates the intraoperative application of the blue dye technique in melanoma. By combining the two techniques, the detection rate rises to 96%-98%. The presence of cancer cells in the sentinel node is histopathologically shown by using hematoxylin-eosin and by using sensitive techniques for the detection of micrometastases. Immunohistochemical tech-niques specific for epithelial markers and polymerase chain reaction examination are also applied. Sentinel lymph node biopsy suggests whether regional elective lymphade-nectomy shall be performed.