Frequency of occult residual melanoma after excision of a clinically positive regional lymph node.

A retrospective study of the medical records of 102 patients with Stage II malignant melanoma was conducted to determine the frequency of occult residual melanoma after excision of a clinically positive regional lymph node. Twenty-one patients met the study criteria for evaluation. Fifteen of 22 dissections were positive for melanoma (68.1%). These results support definitive regional lymph node dissection if the results of excisional biopsy are abnormal. No conclusions can be drawn from these data regarding the survival advantage of therapeutic regional lymph node dissection.