Options Available for
Melanoma Treatment
There are different options for melanoma treatment. But the process of screening, diagnosing and treatment decision involves the patient, family and your doctor.
Diagnosing Melanoma
Almost always your dermatologist or doctor will perform a biopsy where the entire mole or growth is removed and sent to the laboratory for analysis. In fact a thin melanoma can be completely removed during the biopsy and may require no further treatment.
Stage of Melanoma
Once melanoma is diagnosed, the next step is to determine the extent or stage of the cancer. Melanoma staging uses these criteria:- thickness and depth
- spread - to determine whether melanoma cells have spread to the lymph node, sentinel lymph node biopsy is carried out.
Melanoma is staged using the numbers 0 to IV - Stage 0 - often called in situ melanoma and confined to the epidermis
- Stage 1 - small and well localized but these cancers are invasive tumors and have the ability to spread to other areas
- at Stage IV - the cancer has spread beyond the skin to other organs
What are the Melanoma Treatment?
After the tests are done your doctor will recommend one or more of the following options for treatment of melanoma.
Surgery
Surgery to remove the tumor or growth is the primary treatment for all stages of melanoma. The following are the common procedures:- Excisional Surgery : The skin cancer is surgically removed along with a margin of normal appearing tissue surrounding the tumor. Following the procedure the specimen is then examined to ensure that all of the skin cancer has been removed.
- Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy : a surgery to remove the first lymph node the cancer is likely to spread to from the tumor
Radiation Therapy
A treatment that uses high energy rays(such as X-rays) to kill or shrink cancer cells. There are two types of radiation therapy:- External beam focuses radiation from outside the body onto the skin tumor.
- Internal radiation uses a radioactive substance that are placed directly into or near the cancer growth
Chemotherapy
This treatment for melanoma uses drugs to stop growth either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. For cancers limited to the top layer of the skin, creams or lotions containing anti-cancer agents is applied directly to the skin.Other types of chemotherapy can be used to treat skin cancer that have spread to other parts of the body, for example: - Systemic Chemotherapy : drugs are injected into a vein or given by mouth
- Regional Chemotherapy : where drugs placed directly into spinal column, an organ, body cavity(such as abdomen) and mainly affects cancer cells in those area.
Immunotherapy
A new treatment for skin cancer being tested in clinical trials. These immunotherapy drugs stimulates the patient's immune system to fight the cancer. Sometimes called biological therapy.
New Types of Melanoma Treatment
- Chemoimmunotherapy : combining chemotherapy and immunotherapy drugs to increase the success of both of these treatments
- Gene therapy : replacing faulty genes that allow cancer cells to proliferate might cause the cancer cells to die
- Targeted therapy : it interrupt a specific process in cancer cells in order to control cancer
- Vaccine treatment : weakened melanoma cells can be injected into a patient in an attempt to stimulate the body's immune system to destroy cancer cells
National Cancer Institute - Treatment Options by Stage
The National Cancer Institute of U.S. National Institute of Health publishes an article on treatment options by stage. This article outlines melanoma treatment for Stage 0(melanoma in situ), Stage I, Stage II, Stage III and Stage IV.
Click here to link to Melanoma Treatment Patient Version by National Cancer Institute
Warning
The above description of treatment for melanoma is not intended as medical advice to replace the expertise and judgment of your doctor. Your doctor may have reasons for suggesting a treatment regime different from the above.Most importantly, if you have risks factors for melanoma talk to your doctor about screenings. Sometimes frequent screenings are recommended for all close family members of a person with history of melanoma skin cancer.
Patients Guideline for Melanoma Treatment
To better understand your cancer treatment options discuss with your doctor by asking the following questions:- Where is my cancer located?
- How far has my cancer spread?
- What is the stage of my cancer?
- How does this stage influence my outlook for cure and survival?
- What are my treatment options?
- What are the risks associated with each of the treatment options?
- What are the side effects of treatment and how are they likely to affect my quality of life?
- What should I do to be ready for treatment, reduce side effects of treatment and hasten recovery?
Related Articles
To recognize the signs of skin cancer.
Know the types of skin cancer.
Treatment for nonmelanoma skin cancer.
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