Metastases of melanoma in lymph nodes with unknown primary site

Introduction. Melanoma is a malignant tumor that develops from melanocytes, has a high malignant potential and is characterized by early and aggressive metastasis. Just like with many other malignant neoplasms, melanoma can be clinically manifested by metastases in the absence of a primary focus. In the world and in Russia, there has been a steady increase in the incidence of melanoma over the past thirty years. Identifiation of the primary focus with an established diagnosis of metastases of a malignant tumor during life occurs no more than 25 % of cases. Even at autopsy, the primary focus is found on average in 15–20 % of patients, subject to a complete examination of the patient during his lifetime. The prognostic value of identifying the primary focus in melanoma remains unclear.

Objective. To improve the diagnosis and treatment of patients with melanoma metastases without an identifid primary focus by assessing the signifiance of various factors, including the fact that the primary tumor was detected.

Materials and methods. Since 2005 to 2019 at the National Medical Research Centre of Oncology n. a. N. N. Blokhin (Moscow, Russia) 196 patients with metastases of melanoma in the lymph nodes were observed and treated. Patient medical history were analyzed retrospectively and prospectively. All patients were followed up on an ambulatory after treatment. The inflence of the main clinical and morphological characteristics on the survival rates of patients was assessed. Patients with a morphologically confimed diagnosis of melanoma metastases in

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