Early melanoma nodal positivity and biopsy rates before and after implementation of the 7th edition of the AJCC Cancer Staging Manual

Source: MDLinx, March 2019

In this cross-sectional study of 86,846 patients diagnosed before the seventh edition of the AJCC Cancer Staging Manual (AJCC 7) (2004-2009) and of 54,434 patients diagnosed after AJCC 7 (2010-2013), researchers assessed the change in staging criteria and the distribution of thin melanomas requiring nodal and nodal positivity rates seen with the implementation of AJCC 7. According to findings, an overall decrease in the number of T1 melanomas undergoing a nodal biopsy following the institution of AJCC 7 was seen, as was an increase in the number of nodal evaluation T1b melanomas. No clinically relevant change in sentinel lymph node positivity was seen.