Morphological characteristics of the primary tumor and micrometastases in sentinel lymph nodes as a predictor of melanoma progression

Summary. Presence or absence of micrometastases in sentinel lymph nodes (SLN) is a reliable prognostic factor. SLN involvement in the neoplastic process may vary from single melanoma cell to complete replacement of lymph node. Thereby several classification systems were proposed for more accurate prognosis and determination criteria for selecting treatment strategies. We studied morphological characteristics of primary tumor and micrometastases affecting on the disease course, which could serve as a criteria for selecting further treatment strategy on the example of 195 melanoma patients with who were treated at the National Cancer Institute. The most significant unfavorable factors for the further progression of disease are thickness of primary tumor by Breslow more than 2.0 mm, ulceration, extensive (more than 5 mm in diameter) and extracapsular spread of tumor.