Risk of central nervous system metastases in patients with stage II and III cutaneous melanoma

Recent data suggest that patients with stage III melanoma are at high risk for developing central nervous system (CNS) metastases. Because a subset of patients with stage II melanoma experiences worse survival outcomes than some patients with stage III disease, a study at New York University investigated the risk of CNS metastasis in stage II melanoma to inform surveillance guidelines for this population. The study found that patients with stage IIC melanoma are at elevated risk for first recurrence in the CNS. The authors conclude that surveillance strategies that incorporated serial neuroimaging should be considered for these individuals until more accurate predictive markers are identified.