Epitrochlear node involvement in melanoma of the upper extremity

Between 1955 and 1979, 240 patients with melanoma of the upper extremity were admitted to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Thirty nine of these patients (16%) had primary lesions of the forearm, hand, or digit. Twenty-two patients underwent axillary dissection during their treatment. Ten patients were subjected to both axillary and epitrochlear lymph node dissection. Nine of these ten patients had lymph node metastases; two in the axillary nodes only, two in the epitrochlear nodes only, and five in both nodal groups. Epitrochlear node involvement occurred in 18% of patients with forearm or hand lesions, and only when the primary melanoma was within 5 cm of the elbow or in the ulnar distribution, the classically described drainage area of the epitrochlear nodes. The prognosis of the patients in this study was related to the depth of their primary lesions and the presence or absence of axillary node involvement. However, since approximately 18% of patients with melanomas of the hand, forearm and elbow area have a high probability of recurrence in the epitrochlear nodes, close attention to this area and early dissection of clinically suspicious nodes can favorably affect locoregional control in this group of melanoma patients.