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Patients with melanoma that is fully resectable (meaning it can be removed via surgery) and their care teams need to remain vigilant in case of possible disease recurrence or metastasis (when cancer spreads to other parts of a patient’s body).
In stage 4 melanoma, cancer has spread to distant sites. The skin tumors and some enlarged lymph nodes can be surgically removed. You can also have surgery to remove tumors on...
Melanoma can spread quickly and be difficult to treat at later stages, so finding it early is key. To spot melanoma early, it’s important to perform regular skin checks to look for ABCDEs of melanoma.
Surgery is the initial treatment in most cases, especially if the cancer has not spread. Some patients may require radiation therapy , too. But melanoma can also be treated with a variety of other systemic therapies, such as targeted therapy and immunotherapy .
Some people find out it has spread after they’ve had a melanoma removed, sometimes years later. Melanoma spreads when the tumor's cells travel through your...
After surgery, melanoma can come back in three ways. Melanoma can come back at, or close to, the place it originally started, this is called a local recurrence. In this case it is usually felt as a nodule on or near your original scar.
Treating stage IV melanoma. Stage IV melanomas have already spread (metastasized) to other parts of the body, such as distant lymph nodes, areas of skin, or other organs. Skin tumors or enlarged lymph nodes causing symptoms can often be removed by surgery or treated with radiation therapy.
Melanoma cannot spread after removal, but undetected melanoma cells can sometimes remain after surgery.
For melanoma, immunotherapy may be used after surgery for cancer that has spread to the lymph nodes or to other areas of the body. When melanoma can't be removed completely with surgery, immunotherapy treatments might be injected directly into the melanoma.
When melanoma is diagnosed by skin biopsy, more surgery will probably be needed to help make sure the cancer has been removed (excised) completely. This fairly minor operation will cure most thin melanomas.