Micromorphometric features of positive sentinel lymph nodes predict involvement of nonsentinel nodes in patients with melanoma.

The aim of the present study was to determine whether micromorphometric features of positive sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs) from patients with melanoma are useful for predicting further nodal involvement in completion lymph node dissection (CLND) specimens. Of 986 patients with melanoma undergoing SLN biopsy between March 1992 and February 2001, 175 (17.7%) had at least 1 positive SLN and 140 had subsequent CLND specimens available for review. Further nodal involvement in CLND specimens was present in 24 (17.1%) of 140 patients. Of 8 micromorphometric features of the SLNs that were assessed, the presence of metastases in CLND specimens was correlated significantly with a tumor penetrative depth (maximum distance of melanoma cells from the inner margin of the SLN capsule) of more than 2 mm (P < .05), a deposit size of more than 10 mm2 (P < .01), the presence of melanoma cells in perinodal lymphatic vessels (P < .01), and the effacement of nodal architecture by metastatic melanoma cells (P < .05). Our results indicate that some morphologic features of melanoma metastases in SLNs predict the likelihood of further nodal involvement in CLND specimens.