Preventive lymphadenectomy in cutaneous malignant melanomas. A matched pair study

: Data on 70 patients with melanomas classified as clinical stage I, who had been treated surgically with wide excision (n = 49) or wide excision plus prophylactic lymph node dissection (n = 21) at the University Dermatology Clinic, Freiburg i. Br. between 1975 and 1977, were reviewed in a retrospective study. The effectiveness of elective lymph node dissection was examined by creating 21 pairs of patients, matched according to sex as well as to the level, location and thickness of the tumors (to within +/- 5%). One patient in each pair underwent wide local excision and prophylactic lymph node dissection (WE + PLND) to others did not (WE only). Depending on tumor thickness there was a better chance of survival for the PLND patient group. However, these differences were not statistically significant.