The sentinel lymph node: More than just another blue lymph node

In the majority of solid tumors, the demonstration of regional or distant metastases provides prognostic information that supercedes any primary tumor characteristic. The development of sentinel lymph node technology has been a significant advance in the management of patients with melanoma and breast carcinoma, and its application in other solid tumors continues to emerge. In the current study, Kahle et al. have provided a detailed description of their prospective study of the use of preoperative ultrasound for localization of the sentinel lymph node in patients undergoing lymph node staging for melanoma.