Clinical Outcomes and Risk Stratification of Early-Stage Melanoma Micrometastases From an International Multicenter Study: Implications for the Management of American Joint Committee on Cancer IIIA Disease.

PURPOSE: Indications for offering adjuvant systemic therapy for patients with early-stage melanomas with low disease burden sentinel node (SN) micrometastases, namely, American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC; eighth edition) stage IIIA disease, are presently controversial. The current study sought to identify high-risk SN-positive AJCC stage IIIA patients who are more likely to derive benefit from adjuvant systemic therapy. METHODS: Patients were recruited from an intercontinental (Australia/Europe/North America) consortium of nine high-volume cancer centers. All were adult patients with pathologic stage pT1b/pT2a primary cutaneous melanomas who underwent SN biopsy between 2005 and 2020. Patient data, primary tumor and SN characteristics, and survival outcomes were analyzed. RESULTS: Three thousand six hundred seven patients were included. The median follow-up was 34 months. Pairwise disease comparison demonstrated no significant survival difference between N1a and N2a subgroups. Survival analysis identified a SN tumor deposit maximum dimension of 0.3 mm as the optimal cut point for stratifying survival. Five-year disease-specific survival rates were 80.3% and 94.1% for patients with SN metastatic tumor deposits ≥ 0.3 mm and < 0.3 mm, respectively (hazard ratio, 1.26 [1.11 to 1.44]; P < .0001). Similar findings were seen for overall disease-free and distant metastasis-free survival. There were no survival differences between the AJCC IB patients and low-risk (< 0.3 mm) AJCC IIIA patients. The newly identified high-risk (≥ 0.3 mm) subgroup comprised 271 (66.4%) of the AJCC IIIA cohort, whereas only 142 (34.8%) patients had SN tumor deposits > 1 mm in maximum dimension. CONCLUSION: Patients with AJCC IIIA melanoma with SN tumor deposits ≥ 0.3 mm in maximum dimension are at higher risk of disease progression and may benefit from adjuvant systemic therapy or enrollment into a clinical trial. Patients with SN deposits < 0.3 mm in maximum dimension can be managed similar to their SN-negative, AJCC IB counterparts, thereby avoiding regular radiological surveillance and more intensive follow-up.

Treatment of subclavian artery stenosis: A case series.

INTRODUCTION: In this case series, different modalities of treatment for patients with ischaemic symptoms of subclavian stenosis are described, including the different operative strategies that can be adopted in more challenging cases. This is the first case series describing these four management options. PRESENTATION: Case 1: A seventy-one year-old female presented with acute on chronic ischaemia of her left arm following a fall and developed dry gangrene of her left thumb. This was initially managed with a heparin infusion followed by stenting of the subclavian artery which relieved her symptoms. Case 2: A fifty-nine year-old male presented with chronic ischemia of the left arm secondary to an occlusion of the left subclavian artery. This was managed by transposition of the left subclavian artery onto the left common carotid artery. Case 3: A sixty-four year-old female presented with left subclavian steal syndrome secondary to subclavian artery stenosis. She underwent carotid subclavian artery bypass. Case 4: A fifty-six year-old female presented with acute left upper limb ischaemia secondary to acutely thrombosed subclavian artery on a CT-angiography. She underwent a carotid to axillary bypass. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: This case series demonstrates the treatment options available to vascular surgeons when managing symptomatic subclavian artery disease. Symptomatic subclavian artery occlusive disease should be treated with endovascular stenting and angioplasty as first line management. If it is not successful then open surgery should be considered. Bypassing the carotid to the subclavian or to the axillary artery are both good treatment modalities.