Patients who receive the standard surgical treatment for melanoma that has spread to one or more key lymph nodes do not live longer, a major new study shows.

The study, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, found that immediately removing and performing biopsies on all lymph nodes located near the original tumor did not result in increased overall survival rates. The procedure is called completion lymph node dissection.

"The new findings likely will result in many fewer of these procedures being performed around the world," said the study's lead author, Mark B. Faries, MD, co–director of the Melanoma Program and head of Surgical Oncology at The Angeles Clinic and Research Institute, an affiliate of Cedars–Sinai. "The results also will likely affect the design of many current and future clinical trials of medical therapies in melanoma."

More than 1,900 patients with melanoma participated in the international study conducted at more than 60 medical institutions.