malignant melanoma
Common Diseases
Contact Us
Address：301 Guarantee Base, Wharf Town, Zhuozhou City, Baoding City, Hebei Province
Hotline：400-6090-111
Email：service@yz-cancer.com
malignant melanoma diagnosis
Early and accurate diagnosis of melanoma and skin cancer is crucial. This helps to determine whether melanoma has spread and helps your doctor choose the most effective treatment.
Diagnostic testing
If you have signs or symptoms of melanoma, your doctor will examine you and inquire about your health issues, lifestyle, and family history. If your doctor suspects that a spot may be melanoma, a biopsy will be performed.
Biopsy of melanoma
Melanoma skin cancer cannot be diagnosed simply by looking at it. If a mole or pigmented area on the skin changes or appears abnormal, your doctor may perform a biopsy of the marker and take a tissue sample for the pathologist to examine. Suspicious areas cannot be simply shaved off or burned (damaged by hot instruments, electric current, or corrosive substances). A biopsy should be performed first to determine whether the area is malignant.
Your doctor may use one of these melanoma biopsy methods:
Local excision/biopsy: Use a surgical knife to remove the entire suspicious area under local anesthesia. Depending on the size and location of the suspicious area, this type of biopsy can be performed in the doctor's office or in the outpatient program of the hospital. The doctor will sew up the wound and wrap it with a bandage.
Perforation biopsy: The doctor uses a tool to drill holes in a suspicious area and remove a cylindrical tissue.
Scalping biopsy: The doctor removes a small piece.
The skin sample is sent to a pathologist who observes under a microscope to examine cancer cells. Your organization can be judged as normal or abnormal. Abnormal results may include:
Benign (non cancerous) growth, such as nevi, warts, and benign skin tumors
Squamous cell carcinoma (cancer)
basal cell carcinoma
Melanoma
Side effects of melanoma
Just like any skin incision, there is a small risk of infection after biopsy. If you have a fever, worsening pain, redness or swelling of the infected area, or continuous bleeding, you should call your doctor.
If your skin is injured and usually leaves scars, a biopsy may leave scars. Therefore, facial biopsy is best performed by a surgeon or dermatologist who is skilled in reducing scars.
Before conducting a skin biopsy, you should tell your doctor what medications you are taking, including anti-inflammatory drugs, which may make your biopsy appear different to a pathologist, or blood thinners such as coumarin or aspirin, which may cause bleeding problems.
Other tests
After melanoma has been diagnosed, testing may be recommended to identify if cancer cells have spread to the skin or other parts of the body. These may include:
Imaging examination, such as:
Chest X-ray examination
lymphatic imaging
ultrasonic
CT or CAT (computed axial tomography) scan
Magnetic resonance imaging scanning
Positron emission tomography
