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78th Annual Meeting of the German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery

German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery

16.05. - 20.05.2007, Munich

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Evaluation of sentinel node biopsy in conjunctival malignant melanoma

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German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery. 78th Annual Meeting of the German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery. Munich, 16.-20.05.2007. Düsseldorf, Köln: German Medical Science; 2007. Doc07hno077

The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at: http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/hno2007/07hno077.shtml

Published: August 8, 2007

© 2007 Scheich et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en). You are free: to Share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work, provided the original author and source are credited.

Outline

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Background: Common staging procedures are unable to predict lymphatic micro-metastases in malignant melanoma (MM) of the head and neck. Identification and examination of the sentinel lymph node (SLN) offers the highest sensitivity in regard to lymph node status. Neck dissection (ND) is essential if tumor manifestation occurs in cervical lymph nodes. Only few reports have described the option of sentinel node mapping in conjunctival MM.

Methods: Radioactive labeled microalbumine particles were injected around the tumor in three patients with conjunctival MM and no evidence of nodal or distant metastases.

Results: 1-3 SLN were removed successfully in all patients. All but one SLN were found within the parotid gland. One SLN contained melanin storing macrophages like in dermatopathic lymphadenopathy. None of the SLN revealed presence of metastases. No elective ND had to be performed.

Conclusions: SLN detection is feasible in conjunctival MM and recommended in accordance to the standards for therapy of cutaneous MM.