Abstract

Background: Since the introduction of sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB), its use as a standard of care for patients with clinically node-negative cutaneous melanoma remains controversial in India. We wished to evaluate our experience of SLNB for extremity melanoma.

Methods: This is a retrospective study which was done at our centre from 2013 – 2020 by the Plastic surgery team.From 2013 to 2020, 44 patients (30 men and 14 women) with nonmetastatic melanoma underwent SLNB.

Result: From 2013 to 2020, 44 patients (30 men and 14 women) with non-metastatic melanoma underwent SLNB. The mean age was 56 +/− 16 (16 to 86). Positive sentinel nodes were identified in 12/44 (27%) patients. Single SLN was harvested in 67% of our cases, the mean number of SLN harvested was 1.5 +/− 1 in our study.

Conclusion: Our data confirm previous studies and support the clinical usefulness of SLNB as a reliable and accurate staging method in patients with cutaneous melanoma. However, the benefit of additional CLND in patients with positive SLN remains controversial.

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Funding