Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy for Melanoma

Intraoperative lymphatic mapping and selective sentinel lymphadenectomy (ILM and SLND) has dramatically altered the surgical management of the regional lymphatics in cutaneous melanoma. Once considered a standard component in the surgical management of patients with cutaneous melanoma, immediate complete lymph node dissection (CLND) or elective lymph node dissection (ELND) is now infrequently performed. Now commonly referred to as “sentinel lymph node biopsy,” ILM and SLND is an operative technique that was developed in order to identify patients with cutaneous melanoma who might benefit from the early detection and surgical management of metastatic disease in the regional lymph nodes while avoiding the significant morbidity of CLND in individuals without regional lymph node metastases and who had little likelihood of benefit from that procedure.