› Forums › Cutaneous Melanoma Community › Newly Diagnosed and confused on some terms
- This topic has 5 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 6 years, 11 months ago by
Bubbles.
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- May 4, 2017 at 10:07 pm
Hi All,
I was recently diagnosed with melanoma via a shave biopsy on a mole I've had on my chest since birth.
The mole protruded about 2-3mm from my skin before I started getting some abnormal growth. They did a shave biopsy but weren't able to determine the exact depth of penetration since it extended past the skin sample.
I've included the full report below for details of the specific diagnosis. I should also highlight that I'm a 40 year old, healthy male with a history of cancer in my family — brain, prostate, luekemia, and one minor melanoma incident that was caught early (grandfather on my mother's side.
I'm meeting with my oncologist tomorrow afternoon, and I'm not sure exactly what questions I should ask.
I would love any help on…
– Questions to ask my doctor?
– Other posts I should read that have similar diagnosis?
– Recommendations on other things I should be doing / reading?METHOD: Shave Biopsy
LOCATION: Left middle of chest
FINDINGS:
– Melanoma arising in association with a nevus, Breslow thickness at least 3 mm, lesional cells extend to the base and both peripheral edges of the biopsy (See Comment Section)
– Ulceration present
– Mitotic activity: 12 mitotic figures/mm2
– Tumor infiltrating lymphocytes: Focally present, non-brisk
– No lymph/vascular or peri-neural invasion identified
– No evidence of regression
– Satellite metastasis: N/ACOMMENT:
This neoplasm is polypoid. The lesional cells extend to the edges of the biopsy. Therefore, complete excision of this lesion/lesion site with appropriate lesion free margins is advised. Correlation with the excision specimen will be necessary to determine the final Breslow thickness.
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- May 4, 2017 at 10:24 pm
Hi Anon, if you go back and look at older post on the topic you will find that Janner gives advice to a lot of new patients. If you click on here name it will give you a list of her past comments, many of them are advice to new patients just after getting path reports. Here is a link to one such post https://www.melanoma.org/find-support/patient-community/mpip-melanoma-patients-information-page/do-i-need-slnb-dr-says-your#comment-102236 . There is a lot to learn and remember at the beginning, if you can bring someone with you to the appointment tomorrow it would probably help later on when you are talking about what was discussed with the Oncologist. Best Wishes!!!Ed
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- May 5, 2017 at 4:30 am
Hi Anon
The first thing is to make sure you're seen by a melanoma specialist (if that isn't already the case). You'll likely be receiving a WLE followed by sentinel node biopsy. At that point, you can be more accurately staged. Depending on the stage, there are different treatments available. I would ask about the different treatments when discussed and discuss the impact they have on overall survival. Interferon, which had been standard of care is prescribed less and less as it's efficacy is in question. The other question you may want to,ask, if the sentinel node biopsy is positive, is whether or not you should have a complete lymph node dissection (CLND). This too had been more common, but the data suggests it may not have a large impact on progression free survival. Again, depending on stage, there are more weapons against melanoma, than ever. Discuss each and also what the best sequence/order of those therapies would be ( there is ipi, Opdivo, Keytruda, TIL therapy, etc.).
Theres a lot to digest, especially in the beginning. As Ec suggested, it's a good idea to have someone else with you as a second set of ears.
this site too us a great resource and one where you can find a lot of people willing to offer information and encouragement.
good luck!
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- May 5, 2017 at 4:52 pm
Hi Aaron,
You are probably at an early stage and may well not need some of this info. However, I broke down basic treatments for melanoma for a person with Stage IV recently on the board here: https://www.melanoma.org/find-support/patient-community/mpip-melanoma-patients-information-page/just-diagnosed-stageiv-left
I have also put together this: http://chaoticallypreciselifeloveandmelanoma.blogspot.com/2016/03/melanoma-abbreviations-and-random.html
In melanoma land it helps to keep a sense of humor. You are probably facing decisions about a sentinel node biopsy (which I think is absolutely required…how else will you know what stage you really are???) and a possible CLND (complete lymph node disection) of the area of the sentinel node. On the later, whether to do or not to do is a bit more murky.
There is a great deal of information on melanoma on my blog (just use the search bubble) and a wealth of intel and support on this board. Hang in there. I wish you well! celeste
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Tagged: cutaneous melanoma
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