Study: Common surgical treatment for melanoma does not improve patients’ overall survival

Source: MedicalXpress, June 2017

Patients who receive the standard surgical treatment for melanoma that has spread to one or more key lymph nodes do not live longer, a major new study shows.

The study, published today in The New England Journal of Medicine, found that immediately removing and performing biopsies on all lymph nodes located near the original tumor, a procedure called completion lymph node dissection, did not result in increased overall survival rates.

“The new findings likely will result in many fewer of these procedures being performed around the world," said the study’s lead author, Mark B. Faries, MD, co-director of the Melanoma Program and head of Surgical Oncology at The Angeles Clinic and Research Institute, an affiliate of Cedars-Sinai. “The results also will likely affect the design of many current and future clinical trials of medical therapies in melanoma."