› Forums › General Melanoma Community › melanoma excision
- This topic has 10 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 14 years, 6 months ago by
JerryfromFauq.
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- July 15, 2011 at 1:29 am
Hello all,
I'm new to this forum but had a question that I hope you can shed some light on. My sister had a melanoma excised a couple of weeks ago they said that they would let her know if they got it all but it's been 10 days so she called and they said that they "sent the results to surgery and would call tomorrow." When she asked them what it means to send results to surgery they said "it means nothing until you talk to the doctor tomorrow."
Does anyone know what the procedure is?
Thank you in advance for any clarification.
Hello all,
I'm new to this forum but had a question that I hope you can shed some light on. My sister had a melanoma excised a couple of weeks ago they said that they would let her know if they got it all but it's been 10 days so she called and they said that they "sent the results to surgery and would call tomorrow." When she asked them what it means to send results to surgery they said "it means nothing until you talk to the doctor tomorrow."
Does anyone know what the procedure is?
Thank you in advance for any clarification.
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- July 15, 2011 at 2:05 am
I'm sorry you've had to join us, hopefully we can give you some information that will help guide you.
When you have a mole removed that comes back as melanoma the next step is to have a wide excision. Depending on the pathology your sister might also have a sentinal node biopsy done. That must be done before the wide excision!
She needs to ask for a copy of the path report. It is protocal for 1mm and larger to have the SNB. If it is .75 and ulcerated then they also do an SNB. During the wide excision they remove more tissue so they have a margin of clean tissue.
If she has a copy of the path report please post the Breslow (that's the depth), if it is ulcerated and the miotic rate. Then others will be able to give you info. There might also be a Clark's level. Do not confuse that with staging!!!
Linda
Stage IV 5 years
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- July 15, 2011 at 2:05 am
I'm sorry you've had to join us, hopefully we can give you some information that will help guide you.
When you have a mole removed that comes back as melanoma the next step is to have a wide excision. Depending on the pathology your sister might also have a sentinal node biopsy done. That must be done before the wide excision!
She needs to ask for a copy of the path report. It is protocal for 1mm and larger to have the SNB. If it is .75 and ulcerated then they also do an SNB. During the wide excision they remove more tissue so they have a margin of clean tissue.
If she has a copy of the path report please post the Breslow (that's the depth), if it is ulcerated and the miotic rate. Then others will be able to give you info. There might also be a Clark's level. Do not confuse that with staging!!!
Linda
Stage IV 5 years
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- July 16, 2011 at 6:23 pm
Linda,
Thank you so much for your letter. It was comforting to get the information mainly because we were in somewhat of a panic state. Her doctor did call her yesterday and said that after the excision there was no more cancer detected. I told my sis that she needs to get the pathology report so that she can know more about it. From what I understand the depth was .40mm and the doctor didn't seem very concerned about it.
God bless you all for being here and sharing your experiences.
Jan
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- July 16, 2011 at 6:23 pm
Linda,
Thank you so much for your letter. It was comforting to get the information mainly because we were in somewhat of a panic state. Her doctor did call her yesterday and said that after the excision there was no more cancer detected. I told my sis that she needs to get the pathology report so that she can know more about it. From what I understand the depth was .40mm and the doctor didn't seem very concerned about it.
God bless you all for being here and sharing your experiences.
Jan
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- July 16, 2011 at 7:24 pm
Jan,
It's normal to panic when you get a melanoma diagnosis. I just want to make sure that your sister had the original mole removed, then had pathology done and then had a wide excision. The second excision leaves quite a big scar but that's to make sure that there is a wide enough margin. .40 is thin but the second excision is extremly important for the future!
Linda
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- July 16, 2011 at 7:24 pm
Jan,
It's normal to panic when you get a melanoma diagnosis. I just want to make sure that your sister had the original mole removed, then had pathology done and then had a wide excision. The second excision leaves quite a big scar but that's to make sure that there is a wide enough margin. .40 is thin but the second excision is extremly important for the future!
Linda
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- July 16, 2011 at 12:47 am
I'm guessing you should know the results by now. What they meant — not sure who she talked to but seems like it wasn't the surgeon — is that only your doctor can give you the pathology results. So the results have been sent to your doctor but he has to be the one who tells you what they are.
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- July 16, 2011 at 12:47 am
I'm guessing you should know the results by now. What they meant — not sure who she talked to but seems like it wasn't the surgeon — is that only your doctor can give you the pathology results. So the results have been sent to your doctor but he has to be the one who tells you what they are.
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- July 17, 2011 at 5:00 am
Linda covered things quite well. I usually ask the Surgeon what he thinks when I am in the recovery room. He tells me and then notes that the pathology report is needed to finalize his suspicions and to confirm margins. On lymph nodes they may do preliminary checks as the go out from the main tumours nodes to check margins. The final pathology report then states just what things are. I
After my breast tumor removal on July 6th the surgeon said he didn't think it was mel and a week later his Nurse called me on the phone to confirm that the path report said it wasn't.
JerryfromFauq (Stage IV with in-numerable lung tumors and going on with life & targeted chemo.)
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- July 17, 2011 at 5:00 am
Linda covered things quite well. I usually ask the Surgeon what he thinks when I am in the recovery room. He tells me and then notes that the pathology report is needed to finalize his suspicions and to confirm margins. On lymph nodes they may do preliminary checks as the go out from the main tumours nodes to check margins. The final pathology report then states just what things are. I
After my breast tumor removal on July 6th the surgeon said he didn't think it was mel and a week later his Nurse called me on the phone to confirm that the path report said it wasn't.
JerryfromFauq (Stage IV with in-numerable lung tumors and going on with life & targeted chemo.)
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