What Are the Treatment Options for Melanoma?

Surgery to Remove Your Melanoma

One of the first treatment decisions your healthcare professional may discuss with you is the surgical approach to removing any remaining melanoma. The goal of the surgery is to remove all of the melanoma. If the cancer is thin and has not spread, it is usually possible for your dermatologist to remove your melanoma during an office visit. However, each patient’s melanoma is different, so based on your individual case, your healthcare professional may perform an excisional procedure.

Excision

The majority of patients have their melanoma excised. Your doctor (dermatologist, general or plastic surgeon, or surgical oncologist) will start by numbing your skin and surgically cutting out the melanoma, along with some of the surrounding skin (the “margins”). Your healthcare professional may also recommend a surgical procedure called a sentinel lymph node biopsy (or SLNB) to further determine the extent of your melanoma.

Follow-Up Management Plan 

Follow-up management plan decisions include whether to monitor using advanced imaging such as computed tomography (CT), positron emission tomography (PET), and/or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans to identify if the melanoma tumor has spread. Other decisions include incorporating blood tests, drug therapy, and clinical trial enrollment. Follow-up management plan decisions for a specific patient are based on the estimated risk of recurrence for that particular melanoma.

Using Genomic Testing Can Help You and Your Healthcare Professional Make Better Treatment and Management Decisions

In the last two decades, many cancers have seen the development of genomic tests, such as DecisionDx®-Melanoma, that provide information about tumor biology and aggressiveness. DecisionDx-Melanoma measures the activity of specific genes in your melanoma tumor that tell us how likely it is for your tumor to recur or spread to your lymph nodes. The test is well studied and has been used by over 7,700 healthcare professionals who treat melanoma patients.

The information that is provided by DecisionDx-Melanoma is independent of the individual pathology factors that your healthcare professional found from your initial biopsy. This can be helpful to you and your healthcare professionals when deciding the level and type of follow-up management that is appropriate for you including whether you should undergo a sentinel lymph node biopsy procedure.

Learn How
DecisionDx®-Melanoma
Can Predict the Risk of Your Melanoma Recurring or Spreading

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Download the Healthcare Professional Discussion Guide

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What’s Next?

Are You at High-Risk of Your Melanoma Recurring?

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How Do You Get a
DecisionDx-Melanoma Test?

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