  The appearance of nuclear clusters in stellar matter at densities below
nuclear saturation is an important feature in the modeling of the equation of
state for astrophysical applications. There are different theoretical concepts
to describe the dissolution of nuclei with increasing density and temperature.
In this contribution, the predictions of two approaches are compared: the
medium dependent change of the nuclear masses in a generalized relativistic
density functional approach and the excluded-volume mechanism in a statistical
model. Both approaches use the same description for the interaction between the
nucleons. The composition of neutron star matter, in particular the occurrence
of light and heavy nuclei, and its thermodynamic properties are studied.
