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Updated: Jun 6, 2026
A 3D Organotypic Melanoma Spheroid Skin Model
Published on: May 18, 2018
Does mitotic rate predict sentinel lymph node metastasis or survival in patients with intermediate and thick
Brent A Roach1, Alison L Burton, Michael P Mays
1Division of Surgical Oncology, Department of Surgery, University of Louisville, James Graham Brown Cancer Center, Louisville, KY 40202, USA.
Background:
The significance of mitotic rate (MR) in melanoma remains controversial.
Methods:
In this retrospective analysis of a prospective randomized trial that included patients with melanoma of 1.0 mm or greater, all patients underwent wide excision and sentinel node (sentinel lymph node [SLN]) biopsy. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to evaluate factors predictive of disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS).
Results:
A total of 551 patients had MR reported. A cut-off point of 6 mitoses/mm(2) best discriminated DFS and OS: 455 patients (82.6%) had MR less than 6/mm(2). SLN were tumor-positive in 14.7% of low MR versus 31.3% of high MR patients (P = .0003). There were significant differences in DFS (P = .0014) and OS (P = .0002) between the 2 groups, however, MR failed to remain significant in the multivariate model.
Conclusions:
MR is weakly predictive of SLN status but it is not an independent predictor of survival for melanomas 1.0 mm or thicker.
