Model for Predicting Recurrence-Free and Melanoma-Specific Survival After SLNB in Melanoma
Source: The Asco Post, April 2024
In a study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Stassen et al developed a model for the prediction of recurrence-free and melanoma-specific survival after sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) in patients with melanoma.
Study Details
The study involved a development cohort of 4,071 patients aged > 13 years with stage pT1b or higher melanoma who underwent SLNB between October 1997 and November 2013 at melanoma centers in Berlin, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Warsaw. A validation cohort comprised 4,822 patients who underwent SLNB between January 1997 and December 2013 at the Melanoma Institute Australia in Sydney. In development of a predictive model for 5-year recurrence-free and melanoma-specific survival, potential risk factors assessed were sex, age, presence of ulceration, primary tumor location, histologic subtype, Breslow thickness, sentinel node status, number of sentinel nodes removed, maximum diameter of the largest sentinel node metastasis, and Dewar classification. Model performance was assessed by area under the time-dependent receiver operating characteristics curve (AUC).
Key Findings
In the development cohort of 4,071 patients, 889 (22%) had sentinel node–positive disease; in the validation cohort of 4,822 patients, 891 (18%) had sentinel node–positive disease.