Sentinel lymph node biopsy may help guide treatment decisions in stage II melanoma

Source: Healio, December 2022

Sentinel lymph node biopsy was effective as a prognostic and staging tool in stage IIB/C melanoma, according to a study.

“Pembrolizumab (Keytruda, Merck), an antibody against programmed cell death receptor 1 (PD-1), was recently approved as an adjuvant therapy for patients with high risk clinically localized advanced melanoma at clinical stage IIB/C,” Cimarron E. Sharon, MD, of the department of surgery at the University of Pennsylvania, Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, told Healio. “This is significant because this is the first modern adjuvant therapy to be approved for patients without documented at least stage III disease, which is the most commonly identified by sentinel lymph node microstaging.”

Sharon added that, because of this, the utility of sentinel lymph node biopsy overall has been called into question for patients with clinical stage IIB/C melanoma who are now eligible to receive adjuvant anti-PD-1 therapy without undergoing sentinel lymph node biopsy.
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