New diagnostic techniques in staging in the surgical treatment of cutaneous malignant melanoma

• Published in: European Journal of Surgical Oncology Vol. 28; no. 7; pp. 692 - 700
• Main Authors: Cobben, D.C.P., Koopal, S., Tiebosch, A.T.M.G., Jager, P.L., Elsinga, P.H., Wobbes, Th, Hoekstra, H.J.
• Format: Book Review Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier Ltd 01-11-2002; Elsevier
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Biomarkers, Tumor; Dermatology; Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; Humans; Immunohistochemistry - methods; Medical sciences; Melanoma - diagnosis; Melanoma - pathology; Melanoma - surgery; melanoma, sentinel lymph node biopsy, positron emission tomography, pathology; Neoplasm Staging; Radiopharmaceuticals; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction - methods; Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy; Skin Neoplasms - diagnosis; Skin Neoplasms - pathology; Skin Neoplasms - surgery; Tomography, Emission-Computed; Tumors of the skin and soft tissue. Premalignant lesions; melanoma, sentinel lymph node biopsy, positron emission tomography, pathology; Radionuclide study; Antineoplastic agent; Human; Immunohistochemistry; Skin disease; sentinel lymph node biopsy; Lymph node; Stage classification; melanoma; Malignant tumor; Review; Metastasis; Pathology; Local administration; Chemotherapy; Surgery; Melphalan; Malignant melanoma; Skin; positron emission tomography; Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction; Positron; Emission tomography
• ISSN: 0748-7983; 1532-2157
• DOI: 10.1053/ejso.2002.1319

The emphasis of the research on the surgical treatment of melanoma has been on the resection margins, the role of elective lymph node dissection in high risk patients and the value of adjuvant regional treatment with hyperthermic isolated lymph perfusion with melphalan. Parallel to this research, new diagnostic techniques, such as Positron Emission Tomography and the introduction of the sentinel lymph node biopsy with advanced laboratory methods such as immuno-histochemical markers, and reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction, have been developed to facilitate early detection of metastatic melanoma. The role of these new techniques on the staging and surgical treatment of melanoma is discussed in this paper.