Skin Cancer - Melanoma
Melanoma is the most serious form of skin cancer. If it is recognized and treated early, it is almost always curable, but if it is not, the cancer can advance and spread to other parts of the body, where it becomes hard to treat and can be fatal. While it is not the most common of the skin cancers, it causes the most deaths. The American Cancer Society estimates that at present, about 120,000 new cases of melanoma in the US are diagnosed every year. In 2010, about 68,130 of these cases were invasive melanomas, with males making up about 38,870 of the cases and women accounting for 29, 260 of the cases.
Melanoma originates in melanocytes, the cells which produce the pigment melanin that colors our skin, hair, and eyes. The majority of melanomas are black or brown, but often they can also be skin-colored, pink, red, purple, blue or white.
What Causes Melanoma?
Sunlight is the main environmental agent that causes melanoma. However, the exact wavelengths of sunlight that cause melanoma are unknown. Research has shown that people with certain risk factors are more likely than others to develop melanoma. A risk factor is anything that increases a person’s chance of developing a disease. Still, many get this disease with no known risk factors.
Treatments
Stage 0
People with Stage 0 melanoma may have minor surgery to remove the tumor and some of the surrounding tissue.
Stage I
People with Stage I melanoma may have surgery to remove the tumor. The surgeon may also remove as much as 2 centimeters (3/4 inch) of tissue around the tumor. To cover the wound, the patient may have skin grafting.
Stage II or stage III
People with Stage II or Stage III melanoma may have surgery to remove the tumor. The surgeon may also remove as much as 3 centimeters (1 1/4 inches) of nearby tissue. Skin grafting may be done to cover the wound. Sometimes the surgeon removes nearby lymph nodes.
Stage IV
People with Stage IV melanoma often receive palliative care. The goal of palliative care is to help the patient feel better -- physically and emotionally. This type of treatment is intended to control pain and other symptoms and to relieve the side effects of therapy (such as nausea), rather than to extend life.
The patient may have one of the following:
- Surgery to remove lymph nodes that contain cancer cells or to remove tumors that have spread to other areas of the body
- Radiation therapy, biological therapy, or chemotherapy to relieve symptoms