Skin Cancer

One melanoma survivor offers advice for Skin Cancer Awareness Month.

I think being an athlete is what saved my life.

If I ever got sick or injured I would go to the children’s hospital, but that was nothing like a real hospital where people are fighting for their life day-in and day-out. I absolutely hated it, and still do. I was in Emory Hospital visiting my dad two to three times a week for about six months, and every time I walked in that place, it just gave me the heebie-jeebies.

After radiation, as the skin heals, a compassionate dermatologist can help us to monitor any lingering side-effects.

The combination therapy of Tafinlar (dabrafenib) and Mekinist (trametinib) was granted Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for the treatment of patients with BRAF V600E– or V600K–positive stage 3 melanoma following complete resection.

May is skin cancer awareness month, and a good reminder to schedule an appointment with your dermatologist.

Age should not limit which patients with metastatic melanoma receive immunotherapy.

For patients with melanoma, administration of a PD-1 checkpoint blockade therapy in the neoadjuvant setting – meaning it was given before the main treatment – could result in improved outcomes and better insight to patient responses.

Tests like these are growing increasingly important, as TOO results lead to treatment changes about 65 percent of the time and a site treatment change about 35 percent of the time, according to Cancer Genetics.

"I have grown as a person since becoming a cancer survivor," says breast cancer and melanoma survivor Barbara Tako.

After a recent FDA approval for an additional dosing schedule option for Opdivo, patients must be educated on the potential side effects that may occur between prolonged visits.

A recent study conducted at UCLA showed that nearly all patients with uveal melanoma reported having unmet psychologic and informational needs, especially in the few months following their diagnosis.

Breast cancer survivors says that even though cancer is big, scary and demanding, it never justifies bad behavior as a person.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a supplemental biologics license application adding a four-week dosing schedule for Opdivo (nivolumab) across several of the PD-1 inhibitor’s indications.

Gratitude helps get this cancer survivor through her cancer days, fears and worries.

While obesity is a known risk factor for more than a dozen types of cancer – and poised to take over smoking as the leading preventable cause for the disease – it may actually play a beneficial role in men with metastatic melanoma, according to a recent study published in Lancet Oncology.

This breast cancer and melanoma survivor sometimes likes to pretend and ponder about what life would have been if she hadn't gotten cancer.

A recent study highlighted the additional psychological effects that patients with locally advanced cutaneous melanoma go through, particularly because their lesions are a visible part of their everyday life.

“Obesity has been previously investigated for its role in cancer and promoting tumor growth, at least partially by inducing a chronic inflammatory state,” the authors wrote. “However, it’s unclear how this would play out in the era of immunotherapy, where inflammation has been linked to treatment response.”

Breast cancer survivor discusses her upcoming prophylactic double mastectomy with reconstruction.

Clinical trials designed to evaluate the use of anti-cancer drugs for the treatment of cancer typically exclude patients whose disease has spread to the brain or CNS for a number of reasons, including the misperception that they are poor clinical trial candidates.

Traditionally, desmoplastic melanoma was difficult to treat because the tumor tissue is so dense. However, researchers just discovered that immunotherapy agents have potential in this space.

Using the generic skin cream fluorouacil 5 percent (5-FU) for two to four weeks may reduce the risk for squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) for up to a year, according to a study published in JAMA Dermatology.

Breast cancer and melanoma survivor reflects about being tired of her cancers and shares a way to respond to uncertainty.

Breast cancer, melanoma survivor and clutter-clearing speaker/author clears her cancer and household clutter.

Five simple, doable resolutions for the New Year from a breast cancer and melanoma survivor.

A group of researchers are working to determine whether more of these melanomas would be detected, and diagnosed earlier, if hairdressers were taught to recognize them.

A study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology evaluated the impact of time between melanoma diagnosis and surgery on the survival of people with stage 1 to stage 3 cutaneous melanoma.

Of course, there was sadness, but more than anything there was appreciation for my own life and the people close to me. I feel gratitude for still being here, having an excellent quality of life and for the warning cancer gives.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted a priority review to a supplemental new drug application (sNDA) for the use of Tafinlar (dabrafenib) combined with Mekinist (trametinib) as an adjuvant treatment for patients with BRAFV600E– or V600K–positive stage 3 melanoma following complete resection.