Introduction. The purpose of this study was to identify tumor characteristics
of primary malignant melanoma predictive of sentinel lymph node positive
status, and then to determine whether sentinel lymph node status has an
impact on recurrence and survival. Material and Methods. A total of 100
patients with primary malignant skin melanoma were analyzed. The prospective
melanoma database identified patients with histologically confirmed cutaneus
melanoma, clinically negative and clinically positive regional lymph nodes
with no evidence of distant disease, who had undergone surgery between April
2001 and May 2012. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to
assess factors that predict sentinel lymph node positive status, recurrence
and survival. Results. We identified Breslow?s thickness and lymphocytic
response as independent predictors of sentinel lymph node status in cutaneous
melanoma patients. Sentinel lymph node status was a significant predictor of
disease free survival. Conclusion. Despite the limitation, this study
confirms Breslow?s thickness and tumor lymphocytic infiltration as two
factors predictive of sentinel lymph node metastasis in cutaneous melanoma
patients. We also found sentinel lymph node status to be the most significant
independent predictor of disease free survival and identified sentinel lymph
node status as an important variable to consider when estimating the risk of
regional recurrence.
P234 The role of pre-operative CT staging in predicting the sentinel lymph node status