VALUE OF THERAPEUTIC NECK DISSECTION IN PATIENTS WITH MELANOMA

In patients with regional cervical lymph node metastases of melanoma who undergo a therapeutic lymph node dissection (TLND), 5-year survival rates between 0 and 38% have been reported. In case of distant spread, a predominance for the lungs as the first site of metastasis was seen in 70 patients treated at our institute. In that series, the distant disease-free interval following TLND, when considering the first site of haematogenic spread, did not differ much, with exception of skin localization, where this interval was 16.4 months (overall mean distant disease-free interval in recurring patients 10.5 months). The regional recurrence rate after TLND ranges from 14 to 55% and distant metastases are usually discovered approximately at the same time as the regional relapse.