ClinicalTrials.gg
CompletedNCT00386906Updated May 7, 2025

Sentinel Lymph Node (SLN) Biopsy for Conjunctival/Eyelid Melanoma

A Phase 1 interventional study of Sentinel Lymph Node Mapping and Biopsy in Eye Disease and Melanoma, sponsored by M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. Completed at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2025-05-07.

Sponsored by M.D. Anderson Cancer Center · Phase 1, Interventional, and Diagnostic

From the registry’s dates

  • Registered 6 years 4 months after the study started (first participant enrolled May 2000, registered Oct 2006).
Phase
Phase 1
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
38
Allocation
Not applicable
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

The goal of this clinical research study is to find the sentinel lymph node (SLN) (s) and biopsy it (them) to see if the patient has small or low volume metastatic disease that would otherwise have been missed.

Read the detailed description

You have had your conjunctival or eyelid tumor surgically removed or it is scheduled to have it removed. You will have lymphatic mapping before the tumor is removed. Lymphatic mapping is when a small volume of Tc99m-Sulfur colloid is injected by an ophthalmologist after which some radiologic images are taken.

If you are able to become pregnant, blood (about 2 teaspoons) will be drawn for a pregnancy test, within 7 days before the biopsy. To take part in this study, you must not be pregnant.

You will then go to the operating room and have intraoperative SLN mapping and biopsy. If the SLN is positive on permanent section, you will go on to have complete lymph node dissection, which involves removal of all the lymph nodes around the positive SLN. Then the disease will be restaged and you may require further treatment after consultation with their oncologist.

Your medical record will be reviewed, and information from your medical record will be recorded and reviewed to help researchers better identify those patients who have microscopic lymph node disease. The information collected from your medical records will include information about your sex, age, what type of cancer that you have, as well as the size of the cancer and its location.

Researchers hope to identify those patients who have microscopic lymph node disease before it becomes clinically obvious. With this technique, researchers could potentially identify occult metastatic disease which would otherwise go unnoticed until it was too advanced. Patients in this study will have to see the ophthalmologist every three months and have the usual metastatic workup, which is routine for conjunctival/eyelid melanoma.

Length of Study:

Your active participation on this study will be over once the biopsy is over. You will continue to be observed on study for 5 years after the biopsy.

Long-Term Follow-Up:

Every 3 months for the first year after the biopsy, and every 6 months after that until 5 years after the biopsy, you will have an eye exam to check the status of the disease.

Every 6 months for the first year after the biopsy, blood (less than 1 teaspoon) will be drawn for liver function tests. You will also have a chest x-ray. You will then have these tests 1 time each year for 5 years after the biopsy.

You will have a head and neck CT or MRI every 6 months for the first year after the biopsy to make sure the disease has not come back. The head and neck CT or MRI will be repeated 1 time each year for 5 years after the biopsy.

This is an investigational study. A total of 38 patients will take part in this study. All will be enrolled at MD Anderson Cancer Center.

02

Conditions studied

  • Eye Disease
  • Melanoma

Keywords

  • Melanoma
  • Conjunctival Melanoma
  • Malignant Melanoma of the Conjunctiva
  • Malignant Melanoma of the Eyelid
  • Sebaceous Cell Carcinoma
  • Sebaceous Cell Carcinoma of the Conjunctiva
  • Sebaceous Cell Carcinoma of the Eyelid
  • Sentinel Lymph Node
  • Lymphatic Mapping
  • Eyelid
  • Eyelid Lesion
03

In context

Eye Diseases

747 studies on the registry are indexed under Eye Diseases; 118 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 38 is below the median of 69 across 554 interventional studies indexed under Eye Diseases.

Browse Eye Diseases studies →

Lead sponsor

M.D. Anderson Cancer Center is the lead sponsor of 3,044 studies on the registry; 578 are open to participants now.

Of its 608 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 407 (67%) have results posted.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years and older
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  1. Participants must be 18 years of age or older.
  2. Histologically documented malignant melanoma of the conjunctiva/eyelid greater than or equal to 1 millimeter in thickness, or those less than 1 mm thick that have evidence of ulceration, mitotic figures or are Clark IV.
  3. A CXR, liver enzymes, and a head and neck computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) negative for evidence of metastasis.
  4. Participant must have a negative ultrasound of regional lymph nodes (i.e., within 6 weeks of study enrollment).
  5. Patient provided written informed consent. In the event that non-English speaking participants are eligible for this study, a short form (if applicable) or an ICD in their language, will be utilized and completed in accordance with the MDACC Policy for Consenting Non-English Speaking Participants.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

1) Pregnant or nursing females.

05

Study design

Phase
Phase 1
Primary purpose
Diagnostic
Allocation
Not applicable
Intervention model
Single group
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
38 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Other
    Sentinel Lymph Node (SLN) Biopsy

    Intraoperative lymphatic mapping, then biopsy/removal of the conjunctiva/eyelid tumor.

    Procedure: Sentinel Lymph Node Mapping and Biopsy

Interventions

  • ProcedureSentinel Lymph Node Mapping and Biopsy

    Intraoperative lymphatic mapping, then biopsy/removal of the conjunctiva/eyelid tumor.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Number of Patients with Sentinel Lymph Node (SLN) Positivity in Conjunctival/eyelid Melanomas

    The frequency of lymphatic drainage basins for bulbar versus palpebral conjunctiva and for nasal and the temporal quadrants estimated with 95% confidence intervals. The rate of identification of SLN evaluated with a confidence interval. The probability of positive SLN in primary conjunctival and eyelid melanoma estimated.

    Time frame: 3 months

07

Study locations

1 site
  • University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
    Houston, Texas 77030, United States
08

References and documents

09

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reachedSimilar studies: half by the dot; the band is the middle halfHalf of similar studies reached it by the dot; the band is the middle half, from a quarter to three quarters

Ran from May 2000 to primary completion in Sep 2023, 279 months.

Of 25 phase 1 interventional studies under Eye Diseases, half reached primary completion within 13 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 4 and three quarters within 25. This study's 279 months is above that.

Eye Diseases covers many different conditions, not one, so the studies compared here vary widely. Read these figures as a rough guide.

How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.

Registered
Oct 10, 2006
First posted
Oct 12, 2006
StartActual
May 30, 2000
Primary completionActual
Sep 28, 2023
CompletionActual
Sep 28, 2023
Last update
May 7, 2025
What these dates mean
Start.
When the first participant enrolled; while estimated, when the study expects to open to recruitment.
Primary completion.
When the last participant was examined or treated to collect data for the study's main question, its primary outcome. A study that stopped early gives the date its data collection stopped.
Completion.
When the last participant's last visit took place, for every outcome, secondary ones and side effects included: the end of the study. Often later than primary completion, sometimes the same day.
Actual and Est.
Actual means the registry says the date has happened. Est. (estimated) is a date the sponsor plans or expects. It can still move, and the sponsor is expected to change it to actual once it has passed.
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on May 7, 2025, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT00386906
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Oct 12, 2006
Start date
May 30, 2000
Primary completion
Sep 28, 2023
Completion
Sep 28, 2023
Last update
May 7, 2025

Study contacts

Bita Esmaeli, MD
principal investigator · M.D. Anderson Cancer Center

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is completed, as verified in Apr 2025. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

Follow this study

Get an email when the registry record changes — status, dates, results — or when someone posts here.

Sign in to follow

Discussion

Questions and observations about this study, from anyone following it. Not medical advice, and not a channel to the study team — their contact details are on the registry record.

Sign in to join the discussion. Reading takes no account; posting does. You choose a display name, and a pseudonym is the default.

Nothing here yet. If you are running this trial, taking part in it, or weighing whether to, this is the place to say so.

Start the discussion