ABSTRACT
Objective:To explore the application feasibility of modified sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) for acral malignant melanoma.Methods:The data of 60 patients with acral malignant melanoma in the Affiliated Tumor Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University from January 2017 to January 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. According to the sentinel lymph node (SLN) detection method, they were divided into observation group (30 cases) and control group (30 cases). The observation group used contrast-enhanced ultrasound combined with subcutaneous injection of methylene blue around the wrist or ankle joint to detect SLN; the control group used peritumoral injection of methylene blue to detect SLN. The patients were regularly followed up to evaluate the postoperative effect. The detection number, detection rate, sensitivity, false negative rate and the size of SLN were compared between the two groups.Results:In the observation group, the detection rate of SLN was 100.0% (30/30), the sensitivity was 87.5% (7/8), and the false negative rate was 3.3% (1/30); in the control group, the detection rate of SLN was 83.3% (25/30), the sensitivity was 62.5% (5/8), and the false negative rate was 12.0% (3/25); the differences were statistically significant (all P < 0.05). The number of SLN detected in the observation group (3.5±1.2) was significantly more than that in the control group (2.0±1.1), and the difference was statistically significant ( t = 7.121, P < 0.05). The minimum long-axis diameter of SLN detected in the observation group was (5.4±2.2) mm (range, 1.5-12.3 mm), and that in the control group was (11.8±5.4) mm (range, 10.0-16.8 mm), the difference between the two groups was statistically significant ( t = 6.353, P < 0.05). Conclusion:The modified SLNB for acral malignant melanoma has a higher application value in the detection of acral SLN than the peritumoral injection method, and a higher accuracy rate can be obtained.