Malignant melanoma: a search for occult lymph node metastases

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Pathology

Background:

• Malignant melanoma can metastasize to lymph nodes.
• Detecting occult metastases is crucial for staging and treatment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the efficacy of routine serial sectioning for detecting occult melanoma metastases in lymph nodes.

Main Methods:

• Re-examination of 185 lymph nodes from seven melanoma patients with later systemic metastases.
• Serial sectioning of lymph nodes to five to seven levels per node.

Main Results:

• Previously undetected occult melanoma metastases were found in only one lymph node out of 185.
• The method identified occult disease in a single lymph node in one patient.

Conclusions:

• Routine serial sectioning of lymph nodes is not a practical method for detecting occult melanoma metastases.
• The low detection rate suggests this technique is not clinically applicable for identifying minimal residual disease.