Treating Melanoma With Surgery

By: Naomi West

The fear that is associated with a diagnosis of cancer is very real and can be overwhelming. Melanoma is one of the scarier of the cancers, but it can be detected early if people are educated as to what to look for in signs and symptoms.

There are many different treatments that can be used to treat it. How big the tumor and what stage the cancer is in will determine which treatment will be more effective in getting rid of the cancer and the tumor itself. 95% of patients that use surgical treatments early on live healthy lives and are cured.

Melanoma Surgery Treatments

When doctors discover melanoma in their patients the first thing they do is remove the tumor and the tissue surrounding it that could be infected by the cancer cells. By removing the tumor quickly they could prevent the cells from spreading to other parts of the body.

Amputation

There are times when melanoma is found within a single toe or finger. When this happens the best way to remove the cancer cells before they spread is to remove the infected to or finger.

Excisional Surgery

This procedure is used to remove the tumor and the infected tissue around it. The bigger the tumor is the more tissue that will be removed. Doctors will take the tissue they have removed and will send it to the lab to be examined under the microscope to see if it contains any cancer cells.

Lymph Node Dissection

This is a surgical treatment that is used by doctors not to remove the tumor – but to removing most or all of the lymph nodes in the general area and examining them to find cancer cells. A lymph node is a large amount of lymphatic tissue that is surrounded by connective tissue.

Lymph nodes will filter foreign particles and bacteria like cancer cells. If the cells have spread doctors might have the ability to find it in the lymph nodes closest to it and remove it before it can spread. A biopsy will help to determine if the melanoma has spread to the lymph nodes.

Mohs Micrographic Surgery

During this procedure the surgeon will remove the tumor that is visible as well as a thin layer of tissue around it. This treatment is unusual because the tissue that is removed is being examined while the patient is still in surgery. This allows for faster results and better treatment of the cancer.

The surgeon will continue to remove tissue and examine it until they do not find any cancer cells. It takes close to an hour to remove and examine each layer of tissue. The patient will be under local anesthesia through the whole procedure.

Melanoma is a difficult cancer for anyone to have to deal with. With the advances of modern technology there are many Melanoma Experimental Treatments that are being created everyday.

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