This Article  • References  • Full text PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Martin A. Weinstock, MD, PhD
Department of Dermatology Brown University Dermatoepidemiology Unit VA Medical Center-111D 830 Chalkstone Ave Providence, RI 02908-4799

Arch Dermatol. 1997;133(1):103.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

I disagree with the conclusion reached by Piepkorn and Barnhill in a recent ARCHIVES article¹ that "the choice of a resection margin [for melanoma] materially more than 1 cm has no basis in scientifically observable fact," regardless of Breslow thickness. Indeed, the only published randomized controlled trial² of 1-cm resection margins provides a scientific basis for recommending 2-cm resection margins for primary cutaneous melanomas greater than 1 mm in Breslow thickness.

That trial randomized patients with primary melanomas less than 2 mm in Breslow thickness to 1- or 3-cm resection margins. There were no overall survival differences, but all 4 local recurrences occurred in patients whose primary melanomas were in the 1- to 2-mm-thickness group and were resected with 1-cm (narrow) margins. Since other published randomized trials^{3 4} have shown no benefit of resection margins wider than 2 cm on local or overall recurrence rates, these findings . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?