[Surgical treatment of XXXX : role of the sentinel lymph node].

@entity1 @entity5 @entity1711 @entity3 @entity6175 @entity320
The aim of this study was to evaluate the surgical therapy of @entity320 of the head, neck, trunk or extremities, and the reliability of sentinel node biopsy. Forty-nine @entity1 , 23 @entity1 and 26 @entity1 , mean age 59 (range: 22-89) years, with @entity320 of the skin--the sites affected were the head and neck (7), trunk (17), upper extremities (8) and lower extremities (17)--and clinically negative lymph nodes, participated in the study from January 2000 to December 2002. The mean Breslow thickness was 2.1 mm, and the median thickness 2 mm. Preoperative dynamic and static lymphoscintigraphy, intraoperative blue dye and a gamma-ray detection probe were used. If the histological examination with @entity6175 and @entity1711 revealed @entity3 , therapeutic lymph-node dissection was performed. Sentinel nodes were identified by lymphoscintigraphy in 47 @entity1 (96%); 82 sentinel nodes (mean 1.65 per @entity1 ) were removed from 56 lymph-node stations. Four @entity1 had @entity5 -positive sentinel nodes. During follow-up, nodal recurrence in a sentinel-node-negative station was documented in 1 @entity1 . @entity320 can be safely excised with 1-2 cm margins. Therapeutic lymph-node dissection is performed only in node-positive @entity1 . Sentinel-node biopsy allows accurate staging and yields important prognostic information.
