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Most new cases of melanoma are thin (≤1 mm) tumours. A small but significant proportion of patients with thin melanoma suffer disease progression and melanoma-related death. We sought to determine clinico-pathological factors predictive poor clinical outcomes in patients with thin melanoma who underwent sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy.

Patients diagnosed with a single primary thin cutaneous melanoma who underwent SLN biopsy between 1992 and 2009 were identified from the database of the Melanoma Institute Australia. Thin melanomas were defined as having a Breslow thickness ≤1.00 mm. Clinico-pathological factors associated with SLN positivity, regional lymph node recurrence and survival were analysed.

There were 432 patients (226 male, 206 female, median age 49.5 years). SLNs were positive in 29 (6.7%) patients. No SLN positivity was detected in 37 patients …