Treatment of local melanoma
Local melanoma is a cancer limited to the skin that has not metastasized. Local melanoma can usually be treated curatively. The most important form of treatment for skin melanoma is surgery, where, in addition to the melanoma, 1–2 centimeters of healthy, surrounding tissue is also removed as a margin. If necessary, a skin graft is placed to cover the operated area.
Typically, melanoma is completely removed already at the time of diagnosis. In addition to this, a plastic surgeon or dermatologist usually performs a more extensive removal around and below the original tumor. This ensures that any individual melanoma cells can be removed.
If the melanoma is thick or has other features that increase the risk of spreading, a sentinel lymph node examination can be performed, during which we remove the lymph nodes leading to the affected area of the skin.
The risk of spreading and recurrence is indicated by the thickness of the melanoma, surface ulceration, and the discovery of sentinel lymph nodes. If the risk of recurrence is high, we will investigate the staging of the cancer after surgery with a computed tomography examination of the body.
If the risk of melanoma recurrence is high, you will receive adjuvant therapy to complement the surgery. Medication can be used to eradicate cancer cells that may have spread and that cannot be detected in examinations, but whose risk of existence is estimated to be high. The goal of treatment is to reduce the risk of melanoma recurrence.
As treatment, we use either immunological antibodies that are infused into a vein every few weeks or targeted drugs taken as tablets.
Treatment typically lasts for a year.