Özet:

The number of cases of malignant melanoma is increasing in parallel with the reports published worldwide. However, studies about malign melanoma in Turkey are limited. In this study retrospective evaluation of 46 malignant melanoma cases treated at our clinics between 2001 and 2009 is presented. The most common anatomic site of malign melanoma localization was lower extremities. In all the cases the diagnosis was established with excisional biopsy, and the most common observed histopathological type was nodular malign melanoma. The treatment protocol was planned considering the lesion depth, histopathological type and other risk factors. Only wide excision was performed on 4 patients with a tumor depth of <1 mm, sentinel lymph node biopsy and therapeutic lymph node dissection, when necessary were performed on patients with a tumor depth of 1-4 mm (n=12), and wide excision and elective lymph node dissection were performed on patients with a tumor depth of >4 mm (n=30). Distant metastasis was detected in 5 patients during the postoperative follow-up. The most frequent metastatic site was lung. Sentinel lymph node biopsy for malignant melanoma has gained an increasing popularity in recent years and its use has also increased at our clinics. However larger patient series and longer follow-up periods are necessary to reveal the effectiveness of sentinel lymph node biopsy.

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