The lymphatic drain of below-knee malignant melanoma:is the popliteal fossa a ghost station?
Sentinel lymph node biopsy is fundamental in the staging of primary cutaneous melanoma (PCL), but reported lymphoscintigraphic patterns are very heterogeneous. In this systematic review, we evaluated the role of the popliteal station in below-knee PCL. A systematic search of literature through was conducted on the electronic databases PubMed, SCOPUS and Web of Science (WOS) to identify eligible studies. A total of 22 studies (n=5,673 patients) were included. The average Breslow thickness of PCL was 2.86 mm.