The treatment of malignant melanoma of the skin

This review of 117 melanomas occurring in 115 patients treated by a single surgeon suggests the appropriateness of the therapeutic decisions to be mentioned based upon tumor behavior, determined by microstaging. Local control of level II lentigo maligna melanoma was achieved, in most instances, by local excision with visibly free margins and primary closure. In most of the other instances of melanoma, adequate local control was accomplished by wide three-dimensional excision, 5 centimeter margins--closure usually required grafting. Minor amputation was performed with satisfactory results in those patients with appropriate lesions in the volar-subungual area. Regional lymphadenectomy in patients with level IV and V disease in whom the tumors drained to a single node basin revealed occult metastases in 25 per cent of the patients and, therefore, appears warranted as prophylactic treatment. Preliminary data on recurrences suggest that the frequency of the recurrence paralleled the biologic aggressiveness of the tumor, determined by microstaging in association with the presence or the absence of lymph node metastases.