Cancer Types

If you have been diagnosed with melanoma skin cancer, your doctor will discuss the best options for treating it.

Surgical operation

The type of melanoma surgery your doctor uses depends on how thick the melanoma tumor is, and whether it has spread.

Melanoma less than 1 mm thick

The most commonly performed surgery is the extensive removal of the primary tumor. The surgeon carefully excises the melanoma and its surrounding predetermined area. The amount of skin removed and the degree of scarring depends on the thickness of the melanoma tumor. Most patients usually do not need more treatment.

Depending on the size of the melanoma, local resection may be an inpatient or outpatient procedure, usually with local anesthesia. The area may need stitches and recovery could take several weeks. The severity of the scar depends on the size, depth, and location of the melanoma.

Your surgeon may discuss a procedure called lymph node localization and sentinel lymph node biopsy. This is a minimally invasive surgical method in which the regional lymph nodes that received the primary focal lymphatic drainage are removed and carefully examined for the spread of cancer cells to the regional lymph nodes. These "sentinel" lymph nodes represent those most likely to contain spread, if there is any. If sentinel lymph nodes are cancer-free, no other lymph nodes need to be examined or removed. If the sentinel lymph nodes contain melanoma that has spread (metastasized), the doctor may discuss further surgery and other treatments.

Melanoma more than 1 mm thick

The main procedure is extensive removal of the primary tumor. The surgeon carefully excises the melanoma and its surrounding predetermined area. The amount of skin removed and the degree of scarring depends on the thickness of the melanoma tumor. Most patients usually do not need more treatment.

If a large area of skin is removed during surgery, skin grafts can be done to reduce scarring. The surgeon anesthetes and removes a piece of healthy skin from another part of the body, such as the upper thigh, and then uses it to replace the skin that has been removed. This was done at the same time as the skin cancer surgery. If you have a skin graft, you may want to take special care of the area until it heals.

In addition to extensive resection, your melanoma surgical oncologist will often discuss a procedure called lymph node localization and sentinel lymph node biopsy, a minimally invasive surgical approach that removes regional lymph nodes that received lymphatic drainage from the primary lesion and carefully examines whether cancer cells have spread to regional lymph nodes. These "sentinel" lymph nodes represent those most likely to contain spread, if there is any. If sentinel lymph nodes are cancer-free, then other lymph nodes do not need to be examined or removed. If the sentinel lymph nodes contain melanoma that has spread (metastasized), the doctor may discuss further surgery and other treatments.

Regional lymph node metastasis

If the melanoma has spread to a local lymph node, a lymph node dissection (also called a lymphadenectomy) is usually required. This procedure involves removing "compartments" of the lymph nodes associated with the location of the lymph nodes containing the tumor. The procedure is performed under general anesthesia; One or more drainage tubes are usually placed at the completion of the procedure to facilitate recovery.

Depending on how far it has spread to the lymph nodes, radiation therapy may also be recommended to try to reduce the chance of melanoma recurring in the regional lymph nodes.

Metastatic melanoma (Stage IV) :

Surgery can sometimes be used to treat melanoma that has spread to distant parts of the body.

radiotherapy

Working with a professional radiation oncologist, radiation therapy for cancer can be used as part of a melanoma treatment plan. Radiation therapy is sometimes used in combination with chemotherapy.

Targeted therapy

These innovative treatments are designed to take advantage of a new understanding of the molecular alterations that sometimes occur within melanoma tumor cells. Treatment includes:

B-RAF inhibitors

KIT inhibitor

Other treatments in clinical trials

immunotherapy

Immunotherapy is often used for advanced melanoma when the cancer has spread to other parts of the body. These innovative treatments help the body's natural immune response to fight cancer. Treatment may include:

Alpha interferon

Anti-CTLA-4

vaccine

Interleukin 2

T cell therapy

Biochemical therapy

In some cases, chemotherapy may be combined with interleukin 2, interferon, and/or T cell therapy.

chemotherapy

Your doctor will provide you with the latest and most effective chemotherapy.