Skip to main content
AAO-HNSF 2023 Annual Meeting & OTO Experience Main banner
Icon Legend
This session is not in your schedule.
This session is in your schedule. Click again to remove it.

Head and Neck Surgery

Fifty Shades: Controversies and Updates in Head and Neck Melanoma

Sunday, October 1, 2023
3:45 PM - 4:45 PM East Coast USA Time
Location: 202BC

    Moderator(s)

  • Aru Panwar, MD

    Associate Professor, Head and Neck Surgical Oncology
    Methodist Estabrook Cancer Center & Creighton University School of Medicine
    Omaha, NE, United States

    • Panelist(s)

  • Aru Panwar, MD

    Associate Professor, Head and Neck Surgical Oncology
    Methodist Estabrook Cancer Center & Creighton University School of Medicine
    Omaha, NE, United States

  • Tiffany A. Glazer, MD, FACS

    Associate Professor / Residency Program Director
    University of Wisconsin
    Madison, WI, United States

  • Brittny N. Tillman, MD, FACS

    Associate Professor, Fellowship Director, Department Of Otolaryngology, Division of Head and Neck Oncology
    UT Southwestern Medical Center
    Dallas, TX, United States

  • Mirabelle B. Sajisevi, MD

    Associate Professor, Residency Program Director
    University of Vermont Medical Center
    Burlington, VT, United States

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: The management of cutaneous melanoma of the head and neck is undergoing a transformation. Changes in AJCC staging, controversies relating to threshold for sentinel lymph node biopsy and neck dissection, and increasing role of immunotherapy in management of melanoma are all important areas that are dramatically altering diagnostic and therapeutic practice patterns. Otorhinolaryngologists play an important role in management of patients with head and neck cutaneous melanoma, and need to stay up to date on surgical controversies, emerging therapeutics, and combinatorial therapies.

This panel discussion will focus on informing otorhinolaryngologists about key updates relating to sentinel lymph node biopsy, approaches to management of cN0 nodal basins upon discovery of positive sentinel nodes for patients with head and neck cutaneous melanoma, the integration of systemic therapy in management of advanced head and neck melanoma, and the nuances of utilizing injectable immunotherapy agents in clinical practice. Additionally, practice pearls and pitfalls relating to setting up a program focused on injectable immunotherapy for otorhinolaryngologists will be described utilizing a case based approach.

Audience members will have the opportunity to engage in focused discussion in the areas of panelists' presentations.

OUTCOME OBJECTIVE 1: Describe the technique, pearls & pitfalls in sentinel lymph node biopsy for cutaneous melanoma; examine controversies in management of cN0 nodal basin upon discovery of positive sentinel lymph nodes.

OUTCOME OBJECTIVE 2: Identify role of systemic therapy and its interactions with surgical therapy for head and neck cutaneous melanoma.

OUTCOME OBJECTIVE 3: Define role of the head and neck surgeon in intra-lesion injectable therapies in managing advanced head and neck cutaneous melanoma.

BACKGROUND STATEMENT: As part of multidisciplinary teams managing head and neck cutaneous melanoma, otorhinolaryngologists require up to date information on surgical controversies, emerging therapeutics, and combinatorial therapies.