Detailed Pathological Examination of Completion Node Dissection Specimens and Outcome in Melanoma Patients with Minimal (<0.1 mm) Sentinel Lymph Node Metastases

Nonsentinel lymph nodes (NSLNs) are rarely involved in patients with minimal volume melanoma metastases in sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs). Therefore, it has been suggested that completion lymph node dissection (CLND) is not required. However, the lack of routine immunohistochemical staining and multiple sectioning may have led to failure to identify additional positive nodes. The present study sought to more reliably determine the tumor status of NSLNs in patients with minimally involved SLNs and their clinical outcome. A total of 21 tumor-negative CLND specimens from 20 patients with SLN metastases of