Kavita Mariwalla, MD
Dr. Mariwalla is the Director of Dermatologic Surgery, Continuum Cancer Centers of New York, New York.
Dr. Mariwalla reports no conflicts of interest in relation to this post.
On July 9, the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) released recommendations for the use of the sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy in patients with melanoma (Journal of Clinical Oncology). The SLN typically is the first draining lymph node to which melanoma cells are most likely to spread, and a positive node certainly has implications for staging. However, sending a patient to have this node mapped has been very inconsistent among practitioners. It also comes at a risk: an additional procedure in the operating room and the chance of possible lymphedema in the area where the node was harvested.
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