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. 1981 Jul;194(1):108–112. doi: 10.1097/00000658-198107000-00019

Malignant melanoma. Prognostic significance of "microscopic satellites" in the reticular dermis and subcutaneous fat.

C L Day Jr, T J Harrist, F Gorstein, A J Sober, R A Lew, R J Friedman, B S Pasternack, A W Kopf, T B Fitzpatrick, M C Mihm Jr
PMCID: PMC1345204  PMID: 7247529

Abstract

A review of the microscope slides of the primary tumors for 596 patients with clinical Stage I melanoma revealed that primary lesions displayed two distinct patterns of invasion: 1) single cell invasion with direct extension of the main body of tumor into the reticular dermis or subcutaneous fat, and 2) invasion with "microscope satellites" (i.e. discrete tumor nests greater than 0.05 mm in diameter, that were separated from the main body of the tumor by normal reticular dermal collagen or subcutaneous fat). The five-year disease free survival rate for 95 patients with "microscopic satellites" was 36% +/- 6%. This is in contrast to a five-year disease free survival rate of 89% +/- 2% for 501 patients without these satellites (p = 4.3 x 10(-29), generalized Wilcoxon test). "Microscopic satellites" (present vs absent) was comparable to histologic ulceration in its additive prognostic effect of tumor thickness (Breslow).

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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