Linfogammagrafía y estudio del ganglio centinela en el melanoma cutáneo

Abstract

To evaluate the role of selective sentinel lymph node dissection to reduce the number of unnecessary lymphadenectomies in patients with intermediate risk of melanoma and without clinical evidence of regional node and distant metastases. We studied 65 patients with stage I and II melanoma. Only vital blue dye mapping was carried out in nine patients and combined lymphatic mapping with both blue dye and lymphoscintigraphy was used in the remaining 56 patients. The sentinel node was identified in 63 of 65 patients (97%). Only eighth patients (12%) were found to have metastatic melanoma cells in their sentinel node. Our findings confirm that the intraoperative lymphatic mapping of the sentinel node using both blue dye and radiodetection is an appropriate and simple technique for selecting patients who are more likely to benefit from lymph node dissection.