Modern pathology : an official journal of the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology, Inc
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Sentinel lymph node evaluation has enabled identification of patients with cutaneous melanoma who might benefit from elective regional lymph node dissection. Sentinel nodes are currently assessed by histologic and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) evaluation for melanocyte-specific markers. The clinical significance of positive findings by RT-PCR in the absence of histologic evidence of metastasis (HIS(NEG)/PCR(POS)) remains unclear. ⋯ The only independent prognostic factors identified by multivariate analysis were the Breslow thickness of the primary tumour and histopathologic positivity of sentinel nodes. Our findings support previous observations that histopathologic evidence of metastatic melanoma in sentinel lymph nodes is an independent predictor of disease recurrence. In contrast, detection of tyrosinase mRNA by RT-PCR alone does not appear to increase the likelihood of short-term disease recurrence.