Surgical management of primary melanoma

Abstract

A significant proportion of the general population is diagnosed with malignant melanoma each year, and more people die of melanoma now than at any time in the past. Consequently, treatment of melanoma at all stages of development is an important clinical issue. A variety of management options are discussed here, including biopsy techniques and treatment of the primary melanoma. The latter include lymphatic mapping and sentinel lymph node biopsy, hyperthermic isolated limb perfusion, and surgery for stage IV melanoma patients. Procedure-associated benefits and possible complications associated with each modality are also summarized.

Reducing primary melanoma mortality

“…This is being defined with greater accuracy by lymphoscintigraphy [10], a surgical innovation of substantial value in primary staging. Because regional nodes are key prognostic factors for survival, the pathologic assessment of the first lymph node draining the site of primary melanoma (sentinel lymph node) might be an important prognostic factor for the presence of melanoma in the lymphatic basin.…”

Kinetic identification of a mitochondrial zinc uptake transport process in prostate cells

“…Prostate secretory epithelial cells have the function and capability of accumulating extremely high zinc levels, generally 3-10-fold higher than other mammalian cells; see [1][2][3] for recent reviews of zinc relationships in prostate. In addition to the high total cellular zinc level, the mitochondria of the prostate cells also accumulate high zinc levels.…”