The records also showed that in December 1993, McCain had a cancerous mole removed from his shoulder that proved to be melanoma. John Eckstein, McCain's longtime personal physician in Arizona, said at the time that McCain was cured of the cancer. Melanoma is the most dangerous form of skin cancer. When discovered early, it is highly curable. But it is a very aggressive kind of cancer.
Tumors can double in size every month, and the cancer can spread quickly to other parts of the body.
In addition, once melanoma returns in a patient already treated, treatment is more difficult. Finding melanoma in two different places, such as in McCain's case, suggests the possibility of a more advanced stage of the disease. Those patients often turn to clinical trials of experimental therapies. Because McCain has had close medical scrutiny since his first bout with melanoma, the disease probably was caught early enough to be treatable, said Dr. Charles McDonald, past president of the American Cancer Society. Anybody who's had one, you have to keep very close eye on them.