Letters
Completion lymphadenectomy may not increase in-transit disease in malignant melanoma
BMJ 2004; 329 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.329.7477.1288-c (Published 25 November 2004) Cite this as: BMJ 2004;329:1288
- Robin Russell-Jones, director, skin tumour unit (russelljones@btinternet.com),
- Ciaran Healy, consultant plastic surgeon, department of plastic surgery,
- Ann-Marie Powell, specialist registrar, skin tumour unit,
- Katharine Acland, consultant dermatologist, skin tumour unit,
- Michael O'Doherty, consultant nuclear physician, department of nuclear medicine,
- Eduardo Calonje, director, diagnostic dermatopathology
- St John's Institute of Dermatology, St Thomas Hospital, London SE1 7EH
EDITOR—The arguments put forward by Thomas and Clark against the use of sentinel node biopsy in malignant melanoma have not changed over the past four years.1 2 However, data are now available to test the hypothesis that completion lymphadenectomy might increase the rate of in-transit disease.
We identified 10 studies, including our own, which report patterns of relapse separately according to sentinel node status.3 Overall we found 701 relapses among …
Log in
Log in using your username and password
Log in through your institution
Subscribe from £173 *
Subscribe and get access to all BMJ articles, and much more.
* For online subscription
Access this article for 1 day for:
£38 / $45 / €42 (excludes VAT)
You can download a PDF version for your personal record.