The incidence of malignant melanoma has increased steadily over the past 30 years and this type of malignancy is the leading cause of death from cutaneous malignant disease. Cutaneous malignancies, including melanoma, can be detected at a very early stage and a cure is possible with prompt detection and treatment. In recent years, and mainly because of increased awareness of the early detection of melanoma, histopathologists have been exposed more and more to melanocytic lesions. Therefore, it is essential that histopathologists are able to provide a report to the clinician that conveys relevant information in a concise and precise manner. This paper provides a set of guidelines aimed at helping histopathologists with the gross and microscopic description and diagnosis of malignant melanoma.

This report presents guidelines for using high-dose-rate (HDR) brachytherapy in the management of patients with cervical cancer, taking into consideration the current availability of resources in most institutions.

Multiple radioactive lymph nodes are often removed during the course of sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy for breast cancer when both blue dye and radioactive colloid injection are used. Some of the less radioactive lymph nodes are second echelon nodes, not true SLNs. The purpose of this analysis was to determine whether harvesting these less radioactive nodes, in addition to the "hottest" SLNs, reduces the false-negative rate.

There is an abundance of evidence that adjuvant systemic therapy with chemotherapy or endocrine therapy results in better survival for all patients with resectable breast cancer. The absolute 10-year survival advantage however varies for the different patient groups. Therefore, for each individual patient the choice of adjuvant therapy must take into account the potential benefits and the possible side effects. A group of medical oncologists from the Dutch National Breast Cancer Platform (NABON) and the Dutch Society for Medical Oncology (NVMO) prepared a guideline for the treatment of patients with early resectable breast cancer. The criterium for choosing adjuvant systemic therapy for the individual patient is an expected increase in 10-year survival of 5% or more. In the guideline a difference is made between patients with and without axillary lymph node metastasis. In patients with axillary lymph node metastasis the choice for adjuvant systemic therapy depends on the following prognostic factors: menopausal status, age, and the presence of estrogen and progesterone receptors in the tumour. In patients without axillary lymph node metastasis the choice depends also on the following prognostic factors: the size of the tumour, the mitotic activity index, or the histopathologic grade of differentiation.