BACKGROUND: @entity3852 is an aggressive cutaneous @entity5 with a high propensity for nodal metastases. Regional lymph @entity1817 involvement develops in 45 to 65 p. 100 of @entity1 . We evaluated in @entity3852 the use of sentinel lymph @entity1817 biopsy which allows the identification of occult nodal metastases. @entity1 AND METHODS: Eleven @entity1 diagnosed with @entity3852 without clinical nodal involvement underwent pre-operative lymphoscintigraphy followed by sentinel lymphadenectomy with histologic analysis. Identification of microscopic nodal metastases led to complete lymph @entity1817 dissection and adjuvant radiation therapy to the lymph @entity1817 basin. RESULTS: The sentinel lymph @entity1817 was successfully identified in 9 @entity1 . Two @entity1 demonstrated @entity3 in their sentinel lymph nodes. At subsequent complete @entity1817 dissection, one of two @entity1 had an additional metastatic lymph @entity1817 . None of the eleven @entity1 experienced recurrent disease at a follow-up varying from 1 to 42 months. One @entity1 with a negative sentinel lymph @entity1817 experienced lymphoedema. COMMENTS: Our results are consistent with the 14 published studies which totalled 93 @entity1 with @entity3852 and identified 29 @entity1 (30 p. 100) with nodal involvement. @entity3 was identified only after immunohistochemical analysis in 20 p. 100 of these @entity1 (n=6). Lymph @entity1817 involvement appears to be a bad prognostic factor with 29.6 p. 100 of disease recurrence, as opposed to 3 p. 100 in @entity1 with an uninvolved sentinel lymph @entity1817 . Although the prognostic significance of this technique seems interesting, there is no optimal therapeutic approach to sentinel lymph @entity1817 involvement.

[Significance of sentinel lymph XXXX @entity3852 . Analysis of 11 cases].

@entity1 :: ('9606', 'Species') :: ['patients', 'patient', 'PATIENTS'] @entity3852 :: ('MESH:D015266', 'Disease') :: ['Merkel cell carcinoma'] @entity5 :: ('MESH:D009369', 'Disease') :: ['neoplasm'] @entity1817 :: ('MESH:D012804', 'Disease') :: ['node'] @entity3 :: ('MESH:D009362', 'Disease') :: ['Metastatic disease', 'metastatic disease']
@entity1817 :: (MESH:D012804,Disease) :: ['node']
