The doctor also does a careful physical exam and, depending on the thickness of the tumor, may order chest x-rays, blood tests, and scans of the liver, bones, and brain. After diagnosis and staging, the doctor develops a treatment plan to fit each patient's needs. Treatment for melanoma depends on the extent of the disease, the patient's age and general health, and other factors. The standard treatment for melanoma is surgery. In some cases, doctors may also use Chemotherapy are drugs that kill fast-growing cells, including cancer cells.
Biological therapy involves cytokines, or proteins that activate the immune system in a general way.
Radiation therapy exposes the tumor site to high doses of cancer-killing radiation. Any of these treatments may be used alone or in combination. Several researchers are testing vaccines to prevent melanoma recurrence. In one study, published in the June 1997 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology , Dr. David Berd, M.D. and colleagues at Thomas Jefferson University showed that a vaccine prepared from the patient s own cancer cells extended the survival of melanoma patients whose disease had spread to their lymph nodes. The cancer cells were weakened before being used in the vaccine.