FEATURES OF DEFEATS OF SENTINEL LYMPH NODES AT PRIMARY MELANOMA OF SKIN

Introduction. Each tenth tumor of skin is melanoma. Presence of tumor cells in sentinel lymph node influenced the medical tactics.The objective of the research was to study the metastasis of skin melanoma into the clinically negative regional lymph nodes.Material and methods. Histological, immunohistochemical, cytological and immunocytochemical methods were used to study biopsies of regional lymph nodes in 60 patients with skin melanoma.Results. 5 % of patients were diagnosed with melanoma in situ, 15 % – Т1, 28.3 % – Т2, 23.3 % – Т3, 28.3 % – Т4. At outflow of the lymph through 1 collector, the metastases in sentinel lymph node (SLN) was defined in 51 %, through 2 collectors – in 81.8 % of cases. Tumor cells damaged single lymph node in 35.3 % of cases, two and more lymph nodes in 64.7 % of cases. Metastases in SLN with formation of secondary tumor at the T1 melanoma were observed at 11.1 %, T2 – 5.9 %, T3 – 21.4 %, T4 – 47.1 % of studies. Clusters of cells or isolated cells of melanoma in SLN at Т1 were noted in 22.2 %, at Т2 – in 41.2 %, at Т3 – in 42.9 %, at Т4 – in 35.3 % of cases. At outflow of lymph through 1 collector, metastasises of melanoma in non-sentinel lymph nodes (NSLN) were revealed in 24 %, through 2 collectors – in 44.4 % of cases. Secondary changes of NSLN were noted in 16.7 % of cases of defeat of single SLN, in 31.8 % of cases of defeat of two and more SLN. Metastases of melanoma were revealed in 69.2 % of cases of formation of secondary tumor and in 4.8 % of cases of presence of clusters in SLN in removed NSLN.Conclusion. At increase of Тmelanoma of the skin, the quantity of sentinel lymph nodes with reactive changes decreased, and their number with metastases increased. Metastatic defeat of sentinel lymph nodes at outflow of lymph through 2 lymph collectors in two and more SLN and NSLN exceeded the defeat of SLN at outflow of lymph through 1 lymph collector in single lymph nodes. The use of immunocytochemical method of research allowed to expand pathomorphological verification of metastatic defeat of sentinel lymph nodes by 66.7%