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Primary Melanoma sin the scalp
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Primary Melanoma sin the scalp

› Forums › General Melanoma Community › Primary Melanoma sin the scalp

  • Post
    • February 9, 2020 at 8:56 pm
    Marta1971
    Participant
      Hi all!
      This is Marta from Spain. Ihave been diagnosed in October 2019 with a primary dermal melanoma of 1.7cm. no union with the epidermis on the scalp.
      I have had 5.5cm of skin removed and also biopsied the sentinel nodes without any sign of malignancy as well as PET scan.
      My doctors have not recommended any treatment only follow up every 3 months and in April new PET.
      I am very scared about the diagnosis since it is very atypical and does not give much information about it.
      Could someone with the same case give me some additional information and some hope?
      thank you very much to all!
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    • Replies
        • February 10, 2020 at 2:53 pm
        JudiAU
        Participant
          Marta it sounds like you have a primary without evidence of it moving into the lymph system? That is a pretty standard treatment plan, although I think moving to CT is more common than PET

          I know it is scary but it sounds like you are in good hands.

            • February 10, 2020 at 3:54 pm
            Marta1971
            Participant
              Thank you very much for your quick reply, fortunately there are no malignant cells in any part, neither in centinel nodes nor in my body.
              I dont know the difference between PET scan and computerized axial tomography scan CT. Do you know it,? I’d appreciate it.
              Thanks and BR
              • February 10, 2020 at 5:18 pm
              JudiAU
              Participant
                Well, most notably a PET scan is more expensive and thus are used more sparingly. =)

                To a patient they are pretty similar except the PET scan takes longer and involves an infusion into your blood. There is an overview here: https://www.cancer.net/navigating-cancer-care/diagnosing-cancer/tests-and-procedures/positron-emission-tomography-and-computed-tomography-pet-ct-scans.

                A CT show a very detailed picture of the body so many types of problems, metastasis, tumors etc will be shown,. A PET scan also show cancer activity. The PET scan is the more comprehensive test.

              • February 10, 2020 at 11:39 pm
              chrispl1974
              Participant
                Yes, from what I understand PET is used to track disease progress . CT is generally used to detect if there is any disease (metastasis) in the first place. Here in Germany at least, they do MRI for the brain and CT for the rest of the body ,unless you are progressing or have a recurrence, then they add PET to track progress or treatment effectiveness – shrinking of tumors.
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