Baur Johannes, Mathe Katrin, Gesierich Anja, Weyandt Gerhard, Wiegering Armin, Germer Christoph-Thomas, Pelz Jörg O W
a Department of General, Visceral, Vascular and Pediatric Surgery , University Hospital Wuerzburg , Wuerzburg , Germany.
b Department of Dermatology, Venereology and Allergology , University Hospital Wuerzburg , Wuerzburg , Germany.
J Dermatolog Treat. 2018 Aug;29(5):515-521. doi: 10.1080/09546634.2017.1398395. Epub 2017 Nov 16.
Introdurction: Current guidelines for malignant melanoma do not set a concrete cutoff limit for the number of lymph nodes to be resected during regional lymph node dissection (LND). Here, we investigate if extended LND (ext-LND) has an impact on surgical morbidity and oncological outcome in melanoma patients.
A total of 245 melanoma patients receiving axillary or inguinal LND in curative intention were investigated retrospectively. Ext-LND was defined as axillary LND with 20 or more and inguinal LND with 10 or more resected lymph nodes. Surgical morbidity and regional recurrence-free survival were investigated.
Ext-LND did not lead to increased surgical morbidity in the overall study collective. After ext-LND, 55.4% of the patients experienced one of the investigated complications compared to 46.2% in the limited LND group (p = .2113). There was no difference in the occurrence of lymphatic fistula, wound infection, severe bleeding or neurological complications. In addition, patients with positive lymph node status showed improved regional recurrence-free survival following ext-LND (p = .0425).
Ext-LND can be considered a quality marker of LND in melanoma patients.
