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Local Lymph Node Micrometastasis in a Patient With Negative Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsies After Lymphatic Mapping With Wide Local Excision of Primary Melanoma on the Head/Neck Area

Querfeld, Christiane MD, PhD; Wayne, Jeffrey D MD; Wei, Jian-Jun MD; Abdul-Nabi, Anmaar MD; Gerami, Pedram MD

American Journal of Dermatopathology: October 2011 - Volume 33 - Issue 7 - pp 745-748
doi: 10.1097/DAD.0b013e31820977f1
Brief Report

Sentinel lymph node biopsy is widely accepted as a staging procedure for patients with cutaneous melanoma who are at risk for metastases. The complex lymphatic drainage pattern on the head and neck makes sentinel lymph node mapping more challenging compared with other sites. Here, we report a patient who underwent reexcision of the primary tumor site with lymphatic mapping on the right posterior auricular area. Four sentinel nodes were negative for melanoma metastasis; however, step sectioning of the wide local excision of the primary tumor site revealed a small lymph node with histopathologic detection of micrometastasis. Our findings highlight the importance of a careful histopathologic approach that may have prognostic impact on outcome and survival.

From the Departments of *Dermatology; †Surgery; and ‡Pathology, Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL.

Dr Gerami has served as a consultant for Abbott Molecular and Neogenomics and has received honoraria for this. There was no funding source for this study and Dr Gerami has no conflicts of interest to report.

Reprints: Pedram Gerami, MD, Department of Dermatology, Northwestern University, 676 N St Clair Street, Suite 1600, Chicago, IL 60611 (e-mail: pedram.gerami@nmff.org).

Copyright © 2011 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.