为什么黑色素瘤如此致命？和其他顶部皮肤癌qs

第4阶段是最先进的黑素瘤形式。“这是黑素瘤从皮肤到大脑或另一个器官的时候，”Cedars-Sinai的黑色素瘤计划主任Omid Hamid说，Angeles诊所和研究所。早期，现有摩尔或新皮肤生长的变化可能会发挥黑素瘤，但在第4阶段，症状是多种多样的。如果它没有早期捕获，那么黑色素瘤会迅速传播，并且当它变得转移时，这是不可治疗的。哈米德博士说，第4阶段黑素瘤的当前中位数生存率为五年。深呼吸。

在三个主要的皮肤癌症中 - 基础细胞癌和鳞状细胞癌是其他两个 - 黑色素瘤是最不常见的。但是，由于其传播到器官的能力，“它占了最多的死亡，”凤凰凤凰凤凰手术皮肤病学组的董事会认证的皮肤科医生和MOHS外科医生。

经医学专业人士常规检查至关重要，如10个黑素瘤病例中的九个都被认为是可预防的。纽约市皮肤病医院皮肤科的临床讲师，紫外线阳光，遗传和家族历史，遗传和家族史的DNA损伤，遗传和家庭历史，甚至是室内鞣制，这可以将您的风险增加35％。您的医生可能会从变化的皮肤生长中运行血检，活组织检查组织，或使用超声扫描或其他成像工具来确定您是否拥有它，以及它的阶段。

“Staging is a way we talk about melanoma’s spread,” says Dr. Fathi. “Stage is determined by several factors, but primarily how much the cancer has grown and whether or not it has metastasized.” Stages 1 to 3 are determined by what the skin cancer looks like under the microscope. “We look for features such as how many millimeters deep the cancer penetrates, if there is ulceration present microscopically, and if there are a large number of cells that are dividing,” he says. At stage 4, the cancer has advanced to distant body areas, lymph nodes or organs.

“With so much information readily available on the internet, it’s easy to panic,” says Dr. Fathi. “So, the first thing you should do when you are diagnosed with stage 4 melanoma is to get all the information you can from your doctor.” Dr. Hamid elaborates. “You should ask: What’s the first therapy I can get? How is it given? What are the side effects? And am I at greater risk of side effects?” he says. Additionally, he adds, “Patients should always get a second opinion.”

Skin tumors or enlarged lymph nodes can be surgically removed and, “in some instances, metastases to internal organs can be removed,” says Dr. Maiman. “Metastases that cause symptoms but cannot be removed are typically treated with radiation, immunotherapy, targeted therapy, or chemotherapy.” Adds Dr. Fathi, "Older treatments such as chemotherapy have fallen out of favor because immunotherapies and targeted therapies produce vastly superior results.” Immunotherapy refers to the use of medicine to stimulate the patient’s immune system to destroy cancer calls. Either on its own or in combination, “immunotherapy is most physicians’ first line of therapy,” says Dr. Hamid.

任何类型的,不像化疗,攻击ckly dividing cell, targeted drug therapies zero in on specific genetic mutations in the melanoma cells. A board-certified medical oncologist would recommend targeted therapy based on a variety of considerations, including “the genetic profile of the cancer, an assessment of previously tried therapies, extent and location of metastases, the patient’s overall health and ability to tolerate the treatment regimen, review of side effects, and more,” says Dr. Maiman.

所有黑色素瘤治疗都有副作用 - 您可能需要尝试多种治疗，以找到最适合您的治疗方法。这些药物的一些组合可能导致较高的流感样症状，有些可以引发肺癌，肝脏和脑炎症等危及生命的病症。但每个人的回应都不同，所以一定要讨论与医生治疗的所有潜在风险和益处。

通过对治疗转移性黑色素瘤的新研究鼓励医生。“黑素瘤已成为如何成功治疗癌症的海报孩子，”福特博士说。“与15年前相比，我们的治疗更令人有效，副作用较少。我们正在寻找更具创造性的方式来招募自己的免疫系统，以治疗癌症一旦被认为是死刑判决。“汉德博士回声这思想。“我们希望我们发现来自多种临床试验的新疗法，”他说。医生现在从患者的肿瘤获取更多信息，以帮助分期，预后和治疗。

“与您的提供商讨论您关于进入临床试验的思考以及您的动机是最好的第一步，”Maiman博士说。每次试验都有一个筛选过程，以确定患者的资格，其通过研究变化，并且通常由执行临床试验进行的医生进行。目前招聘患者的400多个以400多名心肌瘤临床试验，检查国家癌症研究所网站和Melanoma Research Alliance websitefor studies that may be right for you. A good general resource on clinical trials is theNational Institute of Health website。