What Is The Life Expectancy For Someone Who Has Been Diagnosed With Melanoma
If you have melanoma, many factors affect your life expectancy. Your age, other medical conditions, and stage of the melanoma are just a few factors. For this reason, its impossible to predict how long one person who has melanoma will live.
What researchers do instead is predict how long a group of people who have melanoma will live. This is called survival rate. If you come across this term while looking for information about melanoma, it is important to know what this means.
Survival rate is the percentage of people who will be alive within a certain time period, such as 5 years, after being diagnosed with a certain stage of melanoma. Each stage of melanoma has its own survival rate.
Before you search for the melanoma survival rates, its important to keep the following facts in mind:
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Survival rates are estimates.
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Each person diagnosed with melanoma has unique characteristics, so your outlook may be very different from someone else who has the same stage of melanoma.
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Newer treatments, such as immunotherapy and targeted therapy, are helping people live longer.
Another important consideration is your self-care after treatment. Protecting your skin from the sun and never tanning can help prevent a new melanoma. Yet, studies reveal that many people continue their old habits after treatment and never protect their skin from the sun.
Finding a new melanoma early can also help.
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Be Aware Of Products That Increase Sun Sensitivity
Some medications or products can make your skin more sensitive to the sun . When you start a new prescription, over-the-counter medication or;herbal remedy, read the product information and talk with your pharmacist. Ask if this product has been reported to make people more sensitive to the sun. If it has, you should be careful to protect yourself whenever you are in the sun.
Transplant patients have special sun protection needs. You can learn more at the Kidney Foundation of Canada.
Treating Stage 4 Melanoma
If melanoma comes back or spreads to other organs it’s called stage 4 melanoma.
In the past,;cure from stage 4 melanoma was very rare but new treatments, such as immunotherapy and targeted treatments, show encouraging results.
Treatment for stage 4 melanoma is given in the hope that it can slow the cancer’s growth, reduce symptoms, and extend life expectancy.
You may be offered surgery to remove other melanomas that have grown away from the original site. You may also be able to have other treatments to help with your symptoms, such as radiotherapy;and medicine.
If you have advanced melanoma, you may decide not to have treatment if it’s unlikely to significantly extend your life expectancy, or if you do not have symptoms that cause pain or discomfort.
It’s entirely your decision and your treatment team will respect it. If you decide not to receive treatment, pain relief and nursing care will be made available when you need it. This is called palliative care.
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Targeted Therapy For Advanced Melanoma
Targeted therapy is cancer treatment that focuses on specific molecules within cancer cells. The drugs work by blocking the function of abnormal molecules to slow the growth and spread of cancer, such as melanoma.
Targeted therapy is also systemic, and the drugs can be used with one another or in combination with other therapies.
Learn more about;targeted therapy;and how it works, as well as how;combination therapy;works.;
Expert Review And References
- American Society of Clinical Oncology. Melanoma. 2015: .
- Cancer Care Nova Scotia. Guidelines for the Management of Malignant Melanoma. 2013: .
- National Cancer Institute. Melanoma Treatment for Health Professionals . 2016: .
- National Comprehensive Cancer Network. NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology: Melanoma . 2016.
- Princess Margaret Cancer Centre. Princess Margaret Cancer Centre Clinical Practice Guidelines: Melanoma. 2015: .
- Ribas A, Slingluff Cl Jr, Rosenberg SA. Cutaneous melanoma. DeVita VT Jr, Lawrence TS, Rosenberg SA. Cancer: Principles and Practice of Oncology. 10th ed. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2015: 94:1346-1394.
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Melanoma Is A Disease In Which Malignant Cells Form In Melanocytes
The skin is the bodys largest organ. It protects against heat, sunlight, injury, and infection. Skin also helps control body temperature and stores water, fat, and vitamin D. The skin has several layers, but the two main layers are the epidermis and the dermis . Skin cancer begins in the epidermis, which is made up of three kinds of cells:
- Squamous cells: Thin, flat cells that form the top layer of the epidermis.
- Basal cells: Round cells under the squamous cells.
- Melanocytes: Cells that make melanin and are found in the lower part of the epidermis. Melanin is the pigment that gives skin its natural color. When skin is exposed to the sun or artificial light, melanocytes make more pigment and cause the skin to darken.
The number of new cases of melanoma has been increasing over the last 30 years. Melanoma is most common in adults, but it is sometimes found in children and adolescents.
Staging For Basal Cell Carcinoma And Squamous Cell Carcinoma Of The Skin Depends On Where The Cancer Formed
Staging for basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma of the eyelid is different from staging for basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma found on other areas of the head or neck. There is no staging system for basal cell carcinoma or squamous cell carcinoma that is not found on the head or neck.
Surgery to remove the primary tumor and abnormal lymph nodes is done so that tissue samples can be studied under a microscope. This is called pathologic staging and the findings are used for staging as described below. If staging is done before surgery to remove the tumor, it is called clinical staging. The clinical stage may be different from the pathologic stage.
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Historic Progress New Options More Hope
While melanoma is one of the most dangerous forms of skin cancer, promising new treatment options are improving quality of life and increasing survival rates for patients with advanced melanoma.
If youve been diagnosed, your treatment choices depend on the stage of the disease, the location of the tumor and your overall health. Options include:
Sun Or Sunbed Damage To Skin
In general, sunlight is good for you: it boosts your vitamin D levels and is also good for your emotional well-being. However too much sun, particularly getting sunburnt, is bad for you. In melanoma it is thought that ‘intermittent’ sun exposure is important: for example, getting a lot of sun just a few times a year; on holiday, for example, but then staying indoors, working in an office perhaps, for the rest of the year. People who are outside most of the time, like gardeners, are not at an increased risk of melanoma.
About 6 out of 10 cases of melanoma are thought to be caused by sun exposure. However, the picture is not that clear: some studies have shown that people in cold countries like Sweden have higher rates of melanoma than warm countries like Greece. On the other hand, sunny countries like Australia and Israel have high rates of melanoma. Some of this might be down to how accurate countries are at recording melanoma.
People most at risk of sunlight skin damage are people with fair skin – in particular, those with skin which always burns and never tans, red or blond hair, green or blue eyes. Melanoma is uncommon in dark-skinned people, as they have more protective melanin in their skin.
Children’s skin is most vulnerable to damage. Sun exposure in childhood is the most damaging. People who had a lot of freckling in childhood, or had frequent or severe sunburn in childhood, are most at risk of developing melanoma as adults.
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What Are Targeted Therapies
A targeted therapy is a drug that blocks the growth of cancer by interfering with specific molecules involved in tumour growth. This is different to non-specific treatments like chemotherapy that simply aim to kill rapidly dividing cells.;
This new generation of drugs has resulted in a big improvement in melanoma treatment for patients with the spread of the disease to other organs.
Researchers have identified some of the key genetic mutations that drive the growth of melanoma in patients. These discoveries are opening new avenues for treatment options using drugs that selectively block activity of these driving mutations, known as targeted therapy.
The genetic mutations involved in melanoma development that have been discovered so far have interesting names. They include:
- BRAF
More mutations are continuing;to be discovered.
Immunotherapy For Advanced Melanoma
Immunotherapy is a cancer treatment that stimulates the immune system to fight cancer anywhere in the body. This treatment may either be;systemic, meaning that the drugs travel through the bloodstream, or;local, injected into or near an accessible tumor.
Learn more about treatment options using;immunotherapy;for advanced melanoma.
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How Is Melanoma Treated
The type of treatment you receive depends on the following:
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How deeply the melanoma has grown into your skin
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Whether the cancer has spread to another part of your body
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Your overall health
Your dermatologist, oncologist , or oncology team will consider the above when creating your treatment plan, which may include one or more of the following treatments.
Surgery: When treating melanoma, doctors strive to remove all the cancer. Because surgery tends to be the most effective way to do this, a patient who has melanoma will often have surgery.
The type of surgical removal you receive depends largely on the type of melanoma you have, where its located, and how deeply it goes. If you have an early melanoma, your dermatologist may treat it with one of the following procedures, which can be performed in a medical office while you remain awake.
If surgery can remove the cancer, this may be your only treatment. This is often the case with an early melanoma.
When melanoma grows deeper into the skin or spreads, treatment becomes more complex. Surgery may be part of your treatment plan, but other treatments will be used as well to help kill cancer cells. Some are given before surgery to shrink the cancer. Others are given after surgery to kill any remaining cancer cells.
The other types of treatment for melanoma are:
Other treatments that may be recommended include:
Can Changing My Diet Help Prevent Melanoma
The American Cancer Society advocates eating a plant-based diet over an animal-based diet as part of a healthy plan to avoid all cancers. Growing evidence suggests that plants pack a powerful punch in any fight against cancer because they’re nutritious, cholesterol-free and fiber-rich.
Theres no doubt that a healthy diet can protect your immune system. Having a strong immune system is important to help your body fight disease. Some research has shown that a Mediterranean diet is a healthy choice that may help prevent the development of cancer. Talk to your healthcare provider about the role food plays in lowering your cancer risks.
Some skin and immune-system healthy foods to consider include:
- Daily tea drinking: The polyphenols in tea help strengthen your immune system. Green tea contains more polyphenols than black tea.
- High vegetable consumption: Eating carrots, cruciferous and leafy vegetables is linked to the prevention of cutaneous melanoma.
- Weekly fish intake: Study participants who ate fish weekly seemed to avoid developing the disease when compared to those who did not eat fish weekly.
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After Squamous Cell Cancer Of The Skin Has Been Diagnosed Tests Are Done To Find Out If Cancer Cells Have Spread Within The Skin Or To Other Parts Of The Body
The process used to find out if cancer has spread within the skin or to other parts of the body is called staging. The information gathered from the staging process determines the stage of the disease. It is important to know the stage in order to plan treatment for squamous cell carcinoma of the skin.
Basal cell carcinoma of the skin rarely spreads to other parts of the body. Staging tests to check whether basal cell carcinoma of the skin has spread are usually not needed.
The following tests and procedures may be used in the staging process for squamous cell carcinoma of the skin:
Keeping Health Insurance And Copies Of Your Medical Records
Even after treatment, its very important to keep health insurance. Tests and doctor visits cost a lot, and even though no one wants to think of their cancer coming back, this could happen.
At some point after your cancer treatment, you might find yourself seeing a new doctor who doesnt know about your medical history. Its important to keep copies of your medical records to give your new doctor the details of your diagnosis and treatment. Learn more in Keeping Copies of Important Medical Records.
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Treatment Of Braf V600 Wild
The first choice of;first-line treatment for patients with BRAF V600 wild-type, unresectable or metastatic melanoma is nivolumab plus ipilimumab.
Nivolumab , another PD-1 inhibitor, was granted accelerated approval in December 2014 for unresectable or metastatic melanoma and disease progression following ipilimumab treatment and, if BRAF V600 mutation positive, a BRAF inhibitor. Approval was based on interim results of a randomized clinical trial in patients with unresectable or metastatic melanoma that had progressed after ipilimumab. Interim analysis confirmed objective responses in 38 of the first 120 patients treated with nivolumab versus five of 47 patients who received investigator’s choice of chemotherapy .
Nivolumab monotherapy was approved in November 2015 on the basis of data from the randomized phase 3 CheckMate-066 trial, which compared nivolumab monotherapy with dacarbazine in the first-line treatment of 418 patients with advanced BRAF wild-type melanoma. In an interim analysis, nivolumab demonstrated superior overall survival, which was the primary outcome. The overall survival rate at 1 year was 72.9% in the nivolumab group versus 42.1% in the dacarbazine group.
A significant benefit with respect to overall survival was observed in the nivolumab group, as compared with the dacarbazine group . Median progression-free survival was also improved in the nivolumab-treated patients compared with dacarbazine .
Surgical Removal Of The Melanoma
Treating early melanoma
Stage 0 in situ and stage I
Tumors discovered at an early stage are confined to the upper layers of the skin and have no evidence of spread. These melanomas are treated by excisional surgery. Usually, this is the only treatment required. The first step was a biopsy, where the physician removed part or all of the lesion and sent it to a lab for analysis, where the melanoma was diagnosed and staged. For the excisional surgery, the surgeon removes more tissue from the site.
Melanoma in situ is localized to the outermost layer of skin . Stage I melanoma has invaded the second layer of skin . In both stage 0 and stage I melanoma cases, the physician uses a scalpel to remove any remaining tumor plus a safety margin of surrounding normal tissue. The margin of normal skin removed depends on the thickness and location of the tumor. After surgery the margins are checked to make sure they are cancer-free. If the margins are cancer-free, no further surgery is necessary.
Surgeons may, under certain circumstances, recommend removal of melanoma by;Mohs surgery. The procedure is done in stages over a few days to remove all of the cancer cells in layers while sparing healthy tissue and leaving the smallest possible scar. One layer at a time is removed and examined until the margins are cancer-free. New advances in this technique make it easier for the surgeon to spot melanoma cells in the margins.
Treating intermediate, high-risk melanomas
Stage II
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What Is Radiation Therapy
After surgery your doctors may recommend radiation therapy to help improve your outcome.
Radiation therapy;uses x-rays to kill cancer cells by damaging their DNA. Normal cells can repair damage to their DNA, but cancer cells; are less able to do this; and therefore die. The dead cancer cells are then broken down and eliminated by the bodys natural processes.;
Since radiation therapy damages normal cells as well as cancer cells, treatment must be carefully planned to allow the normal cells to repair themselves and minimise side effects.
The total dose of radiation and the number of treatments you need will depend on the size and location of your melanoma, your general health and other medical treatments youre receiving.
The radiation used for cancer treatment can come from a machine outside your body or it might come from radioactive material placed in your body near the cancer cells.
Ipilimumab For Advanced Melanoma
Ipilimumab can be effective for people with metastatic melanoma and stage III melanoma that cannot be removed completely with surgery. Ipilimumab works by blocking an immune molecule called CTLA-4.
In 2004, MSK patients were among the first in the world to receive;ipilimumab treatment. MSK led the first clinical studies showing that ipilimumab could prolong the overall survival of people with metastatic melanoma. The US Food and Drug Administration approved the drug for general use in 2011. Clinical trials gave MSK patients the opportunity to receive ipilimumab years before the FDA approved it.
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Complementary And Alternative Treatments
It’s common for people with cancer to seek out complementary or alternative treatments. When used alongside your conventional cancer treatment, some of these therapies can make you feel better and improve your quality of life. Others may not be so helpful and in some cases may be harmful.;It is important to tell all your healthcare professionals about any complementary medicines you are taking. Never stop taking your conventional treatment without consulting your doctor first.All treatments can have side effects. These days, new treatments are available that can help to make many side effects much less severe than they were in the past.;