We welcome and encourage patients with recently diagnosed melanoma to enter this study which has recently been launched at the Royal Marsden Hospital.
The study is designed to detect early lymph node metastasis by ultrasound before this becomes palpable.
The results will be compared to patients having sentinel lymph node biopsy in MSLT-1.
Patients and doctors may be attracted to this study because it avoids the excessive and unnecessary surgery associated with sentinel node biopsy.
Patients must be referred within six weeks of diagnosis of melanoma. Full details of the study will be provided at the time of enquiry.
At the first consultation, a screening ultrasound of the at-risk nodal basins will be performed and a date arranged for wide excision of the primary tumour site.
Thereafter, regular clinical examinations and ultrasound surveillance will take place, one-stop, at regular intervals to 5 years.
If ultrasound detects a suspicious lymph node, this will be investigated by needle cytology.
Radical lymph node dissection will only be advised when cytology confirms lymph node metastasis.