Jan H. Wong

Improved Long-term Survival After Lymphadenectomy of Melanoma Metastatic to Regional Nodes

A review of 1134 patients from the John Wayne Cancer Clinic with melanoma metastatic to regional lymph nodes was carried out to evaluate the importance of various prognostic features after lymphadenectomy. Univariate analysis identified the prognostic significance of clinical stage for lesions with a depth of 0.76 to 4.0 mm (p = 0.0018); number of involved nodes (p = 0.0001); Breslows thickness (p = 0.0487); gender (p = 0.0103); location on an extremity (p = 0.0104); synchronous versus asynchronous detection of nodal metastases (p = 0.0107); age as a continuous variable (p = 0.0670); and unknown primary site (p = 0.088). Multifactorial analysis showed that number of involved nodes (p = 0.0001), extremity location of primary (p = 0.0059), and Breslow thickness (p = 0.0334) maintained their significance, whereas gender (p = 0.0627) and clinical stage (p = 0.0942) were almost significant. The long-term survival of the entire patient population at 5, 10, and 15 years of follow-up was estimated to be 46%, 41%, and 38%. When individual characteristics found to be significant by multivariate analysis were combined into different subsets, there was considerable heterogeneity, with 5-year survival varying from 79% to 14%. To quantify this heterogeneity better, a mathematical model was developed and found to approximate closely the observed survival rates in the heterogenous subsets and in the group as a whole.

Lymphatic drainage of skin to a sentinel lymph node in a feline model

To determine the feasibility of selective lymphadenectomy, the authors developed a feline model to identify and determine the utility of mapping dyes for this purpose. Adult cats were injected intradermally with a variety of mapping substances to determine whether the anatomic site of injection had a predictable pattern of drainage to a particular lymph node. Isosulfan blue provided the optimal mapping material. Injection of isosulfan blue intradermally into the skin of the medial thigh consistently led to coloration of the central lymph node, whereas intradermal abdominal wall injections and intradermal lateral thigh injections resulted in coloration of the lateral lymph node. Intradermal injections into skin about the perineum resulted in coloration of the most medial lymph node only. The feline model proved to a useful model to examine the utility of mapping dyes and to demonstrate dermal lymphatics. The predictable pattern of drainage of the skin in this feline model supports the feasibility of selective lymphadenectomy.

Natural history of surgically treated mucosal melanoma.

Thirty-three patients with melanoma arising in a mucosal site were reviewed. Sixteen patients were treated either with abdominoperineal resection or radical vulvectomy and superficial inguinal lymphadenectomy. Three patients were treated palliatively. Fourteen patients were treated conservatively with local excision, wide local excision, and radiation therapy. One patient received systemic chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Local recurrence developed in seven patients. The overall survival rate was poor. Neither local control nor survival appeared to be influenced by the initial surgical approach.

Recovery of a cell surface fetal antigen from circulating immune complexes of melanoma patients

SummaryA well-characterized 69.5×103 dalton glycoprotein fetal antigen (FA), isolated from the spent culture medium of a melanoma cell line, UCLA-SO-14 (M14), was utilized to characterize the antigen component of circulating immune complexes (CIC) from melanoma patients. Ten serum samples from five patients with stage II melanoma at 1 and 4 months prior to the clinical detection of recurrent disease were selected for study. The CIC were dissociated with low pH and ultrafiltered through a 100¢103 dalton exclusion limit membrane. The low pH treatment resulted in an increase in antibody titer in eight of ten serum samples. The antibody activity in membrane immunofluorescence was quantitatively inhibited by the filtered antigen fraction and purified FA, suggesting the presence of anti-FA antibodies in the treated serum, which possibly were complexed with FA in the untreated sample. As determined by competitive inhibition in an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, the filtrate (antigen fraction) contained an antigen that was immunologically similar to FA. These results clearly demonstrate that FA, expressed on the cell surface of melanoma cells, is present in CIC of selected melanoma patients.

Prognostic significance of melanoma arising in the scalp

Thirty-five patients with stage I melanoma of the scalp were retrospectively reviewed and compared with similar patients with melanoma of the extremity and trunk. Patients with melanoma of the scalp were predominantly male. The 5-year survival rate was 89 percent. This compared favorably with similar patients with melanoma arising either in the trunk or the extremity. The prognosis of patients with stage I melanoma of the scalp is no worse than that of patients with melanoma arising in the trunk or extremity; therefore, they should be treated in a comparable manner.