Proven Place Research Articles

End results in melanoma. A comparison of a University versus a private practice series.

No therapy except surgery has a proven place in the treatment of melanoma; controversy exists as to how extensive it should be and on its timing. This paper reports the 5-year salvage rate in 104 patients, half being treated in private practice and half in a university center. The salvage rate in private patients was 51% and for the university group 39%. The greatest single factor responsible for the more favorable rate is that a greater proportion of the private group received elective regional node dissection. These figures conform with others reported and support the concept that whenever the primary tumor is located near a single group of regional nodes, they should be removed whether they are clinically suspicious or not.