[The possibility of performing an incisional biopsy in skin melanomas during pulsed laser radiation treatment].

A procedure for stage I skin melanoma treatment using pulsed laser radiation was developed and employed in 94 patients. At first, a delimiting barrier around tumor was formed with laser beam. It was followed by incision biopsy of melanoma under local anesthesia to morphologically assess level of invasion (after Clark) and thickness of tumor (according to Breslow). Finally, tumor was destroyed with laser beam. The observed rates of metastasis development and 5-year survival and duration of metastasis-free period suggest that the treatment did not provoke tumor dissemination. Moreover, the procedure offered certain advantages over other therapeutic modalities for skin melanoma employing pulsed laser radiation.