The long-term results and prognostic significance of cutaneous melanoma surgery using sentinel node biopsy with triple technique.

BACKGROUND: The sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLN) is a basic staging method in all primary cutaneous melanomas ≥pT1b. The standard technique is a triple technique consisting of preoperative lymphoscintigraphy, intraoperative blue-dye lymphography, and gamma-probe assessment. We performed the analysis of long-term results in a very large one-institution series of cutaneous melanoma patients. METHODS: We have analyzed treatment results of a group of 1764 consecutive patients with cutaneous melanoma, who underwent SLN biopsy between 1997 and 2008 in one tertiary center. Additionally, we have analyzed the outcomes of a group of 473 patients with positive SLN biopsy undergoing completion lymph node dissection (CLND). Median follow-up time was 5.3 years. RESULTS: Metastases to SLN (SLN+) were found in 19.9%. Eight-year overall survival (OS) rate in the entire group was 73.5%, 80% without SLN metastases (SLN-) and 50% in group with SLN+ (p < 0.001). Independent prognostic factors for OS were as follows: presence of metastases to SLN, primary tumor ulceration, and higher mitotic index (>5/mm(2)) of primary tumor. The nodal recurrences in the biopsied lymphatic basin were 5.4%. The metastases to non-sentinel lymph nodes (NSLN found in 27% of patients with SLN+) correlated (on multivariable logistic regression analysis) with primary tumor thickness >4 mm, SLN metastatic deposit size >1 mm, and extracapsular involvement of SLN. In an additionally analyzed SLN+ group, the NSLN involvement was related to poorer prognosis (8-year OS rate NSLN- vs NSLN+: 59.6 vs. 34.7%, respectively). The independent prognostic factors for OS in the SLN+ group were a higher Breslow thickness and ulceration of primary tumor, metastases to more than 1 lymph nodes. CONCLUSIONS: The long-term results confirm crucial prognostic significance of SLN biopsy in cutaneous melanoma. We identified factors related to NSLN involvement, which in the future may limit indications for CLND.

Band misplacement: a rare complication of laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding.

INTRODUCTION: Laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (LAGB) is considered to be a very effective minimally invasive procedure for treating morbidly obese patients. Nevertheless, there are numerous complications that a good surgeon should be aware of. Most of them have been widely presented in the literature. AIM: In this study we would like to focus on the rare but important complication which is ante-gastric positioning of the band. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Between January 2005 and May 2008, 122 patients (88 female and 34 male) with mean body mass index (BMI) of 48.5 kg/m(2) (range 35-80 kg/m(2)) underwent LAGB procedure. The average time of hospitalization was 2.47 days. The first radiological control with band calibration was performed 6 weeks after the operation. Consecutive follow-up depended on the percent excess weight loss (EWL%). RESULTS: Of the 122 patients, 4 (3.3%) presented herein had a band misplaced in the ante-gastric position. There were three out of five surgeons who faced complications of this type. The most and the least experienced team members avoided misplacing the band. Two physicians encountered it at the beginning of their learning curve, and for one it was not related to the process of education. Among other postoperative complications there were two incidents of band slippage, 2 patients had their port localization corrected and in one case drain disconnection occurred. There were no mortalities. CONCLUSIONS: Ante-gastric positioning of the band was the most common cause of obesity surgery failure in our group of patients. It was very difficult to recognize during the typical postoperative checkups; hence there arose a question whether it has been disregarded in other studies.