Sentinel Lymph Nodes in Cutaneous Melanoma

Examination of sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs) has probably become the most popular method of early staging of patients with cutaneous melanoma. SLNs are considered to be the most likely ones to contain metastatic deposits; thus, they can be examined in a more intense manner than in standard lymphadenectomy. Most processing protocols use formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded sections stained with hematoxylin-eosin with the addition of immunohistochemistry. Approximately 20% of patients with cutaneous melanoma show melanoma cells in the SLNs. Different methods of quantification of tumor burden in SLNs provide clinically important prognostic information.