AIMatMelanoma.org
en fr de es it iw el nl da fi sv no pl ru cs

Treatment Options for Stage IV Melanoma

Once your stage of melanoma has been identified, your doctor will discuss a plan of treatment with you. Although no treatment has yet been shown to prolong survival for patients who have inoperable stage IV melanoma,  many experimental treatments are under investigation.

 

In this stage of treatment, doctors concentrate on relieving uncomfortable symptoms caused by the disease. 

 

Treatment

Goal

Surgery

To remove the cancerous tumors or lymph nodes that have metastasized or spread to other areas of the body, if they are few in number and are causing symptoms

 

For more information on Surgery click here

Adjuvant therapy

Treatment given in addition to a primary cancer treatment is recommended for Stage IV Melanoma. These are systemic therapies that go through the bloodstream to reach and affect cancer cells throughout the body. 

 

Purpose 

  • These are established and experimental systemic therapies that go through the bloodstream to reach and affect cancer cells throughout the body.
  • Chemotherapy uses toxic drugs to destroy cancer cell. immunotherapy uses natural and manufactured substances to help the body's immune systems  fight diseases more effectively

 

Interleukin-2 (IL-2) is the only drug presently approved by the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of advanced metastatic melanoma. It appears to benefit approximately 16% of patients with disease shrinkage, of which 5% appear to derive long term durable responses

 

Treatment Side Effects 

These treatments may cause severe side effects. Please see immunotherapy for more information on interferon.

 

For more information on Biological Therapies click here
Radiation therapy

Radiation is used to the shrink the tumors in organs where surgery is not possible or may be complicated, and for relieving symptoms of cancer in the brain or bone..

 

Radiation therapy uses x-rays and gamma rays to kill cancer cells.

 

For more on Radiation Therapy click here

Clinical Trials

Clinical trials are research studies to evaluate new therapies and improve cancer care. These studies are responsible for most of the advances in cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. If you have melanoma, you may be eligible to participate in a clinical trial.

 

Several experimental treatments are currently being tested in clinical trials.

 

  • Experimental vaccines, GM-CSF, CTLA4-blocking antibodies, interleukins, and others therapies designed to boost the immune system to fight the return of melanoma

  • Chemotherapy treatments

 

Except for chemotherapy, all of these treatments are designed to boost the immune system. These therapies have not yet been shown shown to extend overall survival in any randomized, controlled, trials in any stage of melanoma and in some cases may even worsen survival rates. Scientists are constantly working to improve the efficacy of these treatments.

For more information on Clinical Trials click here

 


 For more information on Stage IV Follow-Up click here

 



Important links

Join Our Registry

 

Join Us On Facebook

 

Patient & Caregiver Symposiums

 

Participate in a Fundraiser

 

Make a Donation

 

Make a Special Donation

  

 

Clinical Trials Matching Service 


»

FAST FACTS

Some factors related to your stage IV melanoma may provide a relatively more favorable outcome and help guide decisions about therapy. These include:

 

  • A limited number of sites of disease

  • The disease is limited to soft tissues and lymph nodes rather than bone and vital organs

  • Stage IV disease does not develop until more than 1 year after treatment of earlier-stage disease

  • The occurrence of an observable and favorable response to treatment