Predictors of Regional Nodal Disease in Patients With Thin Melanomas

Background Most melanoma patients present with thin (≤1.0 mm) lesions. Indications for sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy are not well defined for this group. Previously, we reported an association between mitotic rate (MR) and SLN positivity in these patients. The study was limited by a relatively small sample size and low statistical power. In this study, we evaluated a large population of patients with thin melanoma from the pre-SLN era to identify predictors of regional nodal disease (RND) that may serve as a surrogate for SLN positivity.