Background: Sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) is an indispensable surgical procedure in staging and management of intermediate-to-thick melanomas. Although recent studies have demonstrated that complete lymph node dissection (CLND) does not improve 3-year specific survival, its utility in increasing the disease-free period and the control of local disease remains confirmed. The most frequent complication related to CLND is lymphedema, which may affect up to 20% of patients undergoing CLND. The preventive use of lymphatic-venous micro-anastomoses could avoid this complication.
Materials and methods: We performed a single-institution retrospective case-control study. CLND was proposed to all subjects with positive-SLNB; a preventive procedure involving multiple lymphaticovenular anastomoses (PMA) was performed in a cohort of subjects undergoing CLND. Frequency of lymphedema was compared among subjects undergoing and not-undergoing PMA during CLND.
Results: We selected patients affected by melanoma of the trunk and with a minimum follow-up of 3 years, identifying 23 patients who underwent PMA during CLND (PMA group) and 120 subjects who underwent CLND without PMA (control group). The frequency of lymphedema was significantly lower in the PMA group than in the control group (4.3% vs. 24.2%, p = 0.03). Patients of the PMA group and the control group showed similar 3-year recurrence-free period (65.2% vs. 62.5%, log-rank test p = 0.88) and 3-year overall survival (73.9% vs. 72.5%, log-rank test p = 0.97) and frequency of nonsentinel-node metastases (26.7% vs. 30.4%, p = 0.71).
Conclusion: PMA appear to represent a useful and safe procedure in reducing the risk of lymphedema in patients with melanoma undergoing CLND.
Keywords: Complete lymph node dissection; Lymphatic venous anastomosis; Lymphedema; Melanoma; Prevention.
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