Professor James Larkin will be joining us in July for our next On The Spot webinar. Watch this short video on the key topics he will be covering later this year. Topics will include:
1. Long-term follow up data for the Immunotherapy trials first introduced in 2013/2014
2. New drug called Relatlimab
3. Adjuvant Pembrolizumab for stage II melanoma patients
4. Cellular therapy

Treatment of Melanoma Skin Cancer, by Stage
The type of treatment(s) your doctor recommends will depend on the stage and location of the melanoma. But other factors can be important as well, such as the risk of the cancer returning after treatment, if the cancer cells have certain gene changes, and your overall health.

Treating stage 0 melanoma
Stage 0 melanoma (melanoma in situ) has not grown deeper than the top layer of the skin (the epidermis). It is usually treated by surgery (wide excision) to remove the melanoma and a small margin of normal skin around it. The removed sample is then sent to a lab to be looked at with a microscope. If cancer cells are seen at the edges of the sample, a second, wider excision of the area may be done.

Some doctors may consider the use of imiquimod cream (Zyclara) or radiation therapy instead of surgery, although not all doctors agree with this.

For melanomas in sensitive areas on the face, some doctors may use Mohs surgery or even imiquimod cream if surgery might be disfiguring, although not all doctors agree with these uses.

Treating stage I melanoma
Stage I melanoma is typically treated by wide excision (surgery to remove the melanoma as well as a margin of normal skin around it). The width of the margin depends on the thickness and location of the melanoma. Most often, no other treatment is needed.

Some doctors may recommend a sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) to look for cancer in nearby lymph nodes, especially if the melanoma is stage IB or has other characteristics that make it more likely to have spread. You and your doctor should discuss this option.

If the SLNB does not find cancer cells in the lymph nodes, then no further treatment is needed, although close follow-up is still important.

If cancer cells are found on the SLNB, a lymph node dissection (removal of all lymph nodes near the cancer) might be recommended. Another option might be to watch the lymph nodes closely by getting an ultrasound of the nodes every few months.

If the SLNB found cancer, adjuvant (additional) treatment with an immune checkpoint inhibitor or targeted therapy drugs (if the melanoma has a BRAF gene mutation) might be recommended to try to lower the chance the melanoma will come back. Other drugs or perhaps vaccines might also be options as part of a clinical trial.

Treating stage II melanoma
Wide excision (surgery to remove the melanoma and a margin of normal skin around it) is the standard treatment for stage II melanoma. The width of the margin depends on the thickness and location of the melanoma.

Because the melanoma may have spread to nearby lymph nodes, many doctors recommend a sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) as well. This is an option that you and your doctor should discuss.

If an SLNB is done and does not find cancer cells in the lymph nodes, then no further treatment is needed, although close follow-up is still important.

If the SLNB finds that the sentinel node contains cancer cells, then a lymph node dissection (where all the lymph nodes in that area are surgically removed) will probably be done at a later date. Another option might be to watch the lymph nodes closely by getting an ultrasound of the nodes every few months.

If the SLNB found cancer, adjuvant (additional) treatment with an immune checkpoint inhibitor or targeted therapy drugs (if the melanoma has a BRAF gene mutation) might be recommended to try to lower the chance the melanoma will come back. Other drugs or perhaps vaccines might also be options as part of a clinical trial.

Treating stage III melanoma
These cancers have already reached the lymph nodes when the melanoma is first diagnosed. Surgical treatment for stage III melanoma usually requires wide excision of the primary tumor as in earlier stages, along with lymph node dissection.

After surgery, (additional) adjuvant treatment with an immune checkpoint inhibitor or with targeted therapy drugs (for cancers with BRAF gene changes) may help lower the risk of the melanoma coming back. Other drugs or perhaps vaccines may also be recommended as part of a clinical trial to try to reduce the chance the melanoma will come back. Another option is to give radiation therapy to the areas where the lymph nodes were removed, especially if many of the nodes contain cancer.

If melanoma tumors are found in nearby lymph vessels in or just under the skin (known as in-transit tumors), they should all be removed, if possible. Other options include injections of the T-VEC vaccine (Imlygic), Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine, or interleukin-2 (IL-2) directly into the melanoma; radiation therapy; or applying imiquimod cream. For melanomas on an arm or leg, another option might be isolated limb perfusion or isolated limb infusion (infusing just the limb with chemotherapy). Other possible treatments might include targeted therapy (for melanomas with a BRAF or C-KIT gene change), immunotherapy, or chemotherapy.

Hi, this is Brandon. In this video I put together all the pictures taken from years before noticing the cancer on my left cheek to my recovery weeks later. In this video you will... 1) See what to look for in spotting Melanoma skin cancer. 2) The damage that can be done if not dealt with in a timely manner. 3) The recovery and quick healing from major surgery on the entire left side of my face.

I hope you enjoyed this video and learned how to spot Melanoma Cancer and to stop it before it spreads. Please consider subscribing to my channel for other great videos and share this with anyone who might need to learn about what Melanoma Cancer looks like and can do to the human body if not removed quickly.

More people are developing melanoma, the deadliest skin cancer, than ever before. As UConn Health dermatologist and Mohs surgeon Dr. Maritza Perez explains, having regular skin exams is key in helping to find and remove the melanoma before it becomes lethal.

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MRA’s Melanoma Exchange Patient Forum, held in-person in Washington DC and virtually on March 9, brings together melanoma patients, survivors, advocates, and their loved ones to provide lay-friendly, state-of-the-science education, promote collaboration, and provide networking opportunities across the melanoma community.

Throughout the event, you’ll hear from leading experts in the melanoma field and have the opportunity to ask questions, discuss, and network with other people who are going through their own melanoma journey. Each session will provide information, insight, and strategies to help navigate melanoma diagnosis, treatment, or beyond.