Stage IV and CT/MRI Results
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Stage IV and CT/MRI Results

› Forums › General Melanoma Community › Stage IV and CT/MRI Results

  • Post
    • November 20, 2019 at 11:57 pm
    jennifer83
    Participant
    I was diagnosed Stage IV through a biopsy and finally had a CT & MRI yesterday. Radiology called me today and they said the doc wants to schedule an abdominal wall biopsy for Friday. What could this be for? They were gone when I called to ask. The nurse explained that it’s probably because something wasn’t clear on my CT scan so they want to biopsy to see if it’s metastatic. They already know that I have metastasis through a breast biopsy done at the end of October… would they biopsy other tumors to see if they are also melanoma?

    I’m sure I’ll get some answers tomorrow, but thought I’d see if anyone has input.

    Many thanks,

    Jennifer

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  • Replies
      • November 21, 2019 at 12:25 am
      JudiAU
      Participant
      I’m sorry to hear about your diagnosis.

      The number of metastatic sites can effect ordering of treatment and plans. Of course, you can have multiple cancers but it is usually to consider the best approach.

      In my case they found a large brain tumor first and it was scheduled for removal. But after PET scan revealed other sites and lung biopsy informed melanoma they started immunotherapy (2 rounds combo until I was in the hospital with fever) then I took a break, had the tumor removed, had another dose of combo, radiation, and then last dose of combo next week.

      If had been one site, they would have started with surgery.

      • November 21, 2019 at 1:10 am
      kst
      Participant
      If the previous biopsy was not performed at MDA they may also need a biopsy to perform a gene analysis. I had this happen when my slides were not handled correctly from my local hospital lab. They look for BRAF, NRAS, and many other mutations along with PDL-1
      Susanne
        • November 21, 2019 at 9:40 pm
        JudiAU
        Participant
        Yes, now that I think about it they wanted to test for BRAF as well.
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