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Erschienen in:
28.08.2023 | Melanoma
Omission of Completion Lymph Node Dissection in Sentinel Node Biopsy Positive Head and Neck Cutaneous Melanoma Patients
Erschienen in: Annals of Surgical Oncology | Ausgabe 12/2023
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Background
Recent studies evaluating patients with a positive sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB+) show no melanoma-specific survival difference between patients undergoing lymph node basin surveillance and completion lymph node dissection (CLND). This has been broadly applied, despite underrepresentation of head and neck (HN) cutaneous melanoma patients. We evaluated whether this was upheld in the HN melanoma cohort.
Methods
Patients with HN melanoma with a SLNB+ were selected from the National Cancer Database (NCDB) from 2012 to 2019. Overall survival (OS) of patients who underwent SLNB only versus SLNB + CLND were compared. Subgroup analyses were performed based on pathologic N (pN) and receipt of immunotherapy. Adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated.
Results
Analysis of 634 patients with multivariable Cox regression showed no difference in OS in SLNB only versus SLNB + CLND cohorts (hazard ratio [HR] 1.13; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.71–1.81; p = 0.610). Charlson–Deyo score (CDS) 1 versus 0 (HR 1.70; 95% CI 1.10–2.63; p = 0.016), pN2+ versus pN1 (HR 1.74; 95% CI 1.23–2.45; p = 0.002), and lymphovascular invasion (LVI) versus no (HR 2.07; 95% CI 1.34–3.19; p = 0.001) were associated with worse prognosis. Subgroup analysis by pN showed no OS benefit for CLND in either pN1 (HR 1.04; 95% CI 0.51–2.10; p = 0.922) or pN2+ (HR 1.31; 95% CI 0.67–2.57; p = 0.427) patients or in patients who received immunotherapy (HR 1.32; 95% CI 0.54–3.22; p = 0.549).
Conclusions
This study of SLNB + HN melanoma patients showed no OS difference in SLNB only versus SLNB + CLND. Further studies need to be performed to better define the role of CLND.