Skin Cancer/Melanoma

John Kirkwood, MD, Usher professor, Medicine, Dermatology and Translational Science, co-director, Melanoma and Skin Cancer Program, University of Pittsburgh, discusses training physicians on skin examinations for detecting melanoma. 

Sancy Leachman, MD, PhD, professor and chair, Department of Dermatology, director, Melanoma Research Program, Knight Cancer Institute, Oregon Health & Science University, discusses the mobile app Mole Mapper, which allows patients to measure and monitor their moles for melanoma.

The FDA has approved nivolumab (Opdivo) as a frontline treatment for patients with BRAF wild-type advanced melanoma, based on a substantial improvement in overall survival (OS) compared with dacarbazine in a phase III study.

The combination of Tafinlar (dabrafenib) and Mekinist (trametinib) has been fully approved by the FDA to treat patients with unresectable or metastatic BRAF-mutated melanoma. The approval is based on an extension in overall survival (OS) from two phase III studies.

In this interview to gain further insight into the flurry of FDA activity, Tim Turnham, executive director of the Melanoma Research Foundation, sheds light on the recent drug approvals and what's next for treating melanoma.

Many patients who have had melanoma do not conduct regular skin self-examinations, and those who do check themselves do not use sufficient tools or techniques.

The FDA has approved Cotellic (cobimetinib) to be used in combination with Zelboraf (vemurafenib) to treat patients with metastatic or unresectable melanoma who carry the BRAFV600E/K mutation.

The FDA has expanded the approval of Yervoy (ipilimumab) to include adjuvant treatment of fully resected stage III melanoma. The treatment will apply to patients with pathologic involvement of regional lymph nodes >1 mm.

The FDA has approved the first-in-class oncolytic viral therapy Imlygic (T-VEC; talimogene laherparepvec) for the local treatment of unresectable lesions of the skin and lymph nodes in patients with melanoma that recurred after initial surgery.

The FDA has approved the combination of nivolumab (Opdivo) and ipilimumab (Yervoy) as a treatment for patients with BRAF V600 wild-type unresectable or metastatic melanoma

Richard W. Joseph, MD, oncologist, Mayo Clinic, discusses remaining optimistic with patients.

Richard W. Joseph, MD, oncologist, Mayo Clinic, discusses ways that nurses can help patients with melanoma manage toxicities from treatment.

Mario E. Lacouture, MD, dermatologist, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer, discusses how nurses can help prevent and manage skin toxicities associated with melanoma treatment.

Jason J. Luke, MD, an instructor in medicine atHarvard Medical School and a Medical Oncologist at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, explains why oncology nurses have such an important role in managing melanoma toxicities.

In February 2002, I was diagnosed with stage I melanoma.

The addition of the GM-CSF agent sargramostim to the CTLA-4 inhibitor ipilimumab (Yervoy) prolonged overall survival (OS) and lowered toxicity for patients with unresectable stage III or IV melanoma.

A new study has found that nearly one third of cancer patients suffer from anxiety or other mental health challenges, with breast cancer patients, head and neck cancer patients and melanoma patients suffering the most.

The FDA has approved pembrolizumab (Keytruda) for the treatment of advanced melanoma, making it the first PD-1 inhibitor to receive approval in the United States and marking yet another milestone breakthrough for patients who once had little hope of surviving this disease.

Brianna Hoffner, MSN, RN, ANP-BC, AOCNP, nurse practitioner, The Angeles Clinic and Research Institute, discusses how to monitor the adverse events in patients receiving treatment for melanoma.

Tim Turnham, executive director, Melanoma Research Foundation, provides an overview of some of the services offered by the Melanoma Research Foundation.

A new study has shown that the risk of developing melanoma was more closely related to sun exposure in early life than in adulthood in young Caucasian women.

A 10-year follow-up study of regional melanoma staging strategies found that patients who underwent sentinel-node biopsies had significantly greater disease-free survival rates (DFSRs) compared with patients monitored through nodal observation.

A study of patients with metastatic melanoma found that those who spent more time in hospice care lived almost four months longer than similar patients who had little or no hospice care, and that end-of-life costs dropped for those with more time in hospice.

Nivolumab, a PD-1-specific antibody, has been shown to produce long-term remissions with limited toxicity in patients with advanced melanoma, according to results from one of the longest follow ups to examine the drug

Matthew Burke, MBA, RN, MSN, APRN-BC, Oncology Nurse Practitioner/Melanoma and Renal Cell Carcinoma, Yale New Haven Hospital, discusses managing immune-mediated adverse events (IMAEs)

Advances in precision medicine for the treatment of melanoma include novel small-molecule inhibitors targeting signal transduction pathways in BRAF and NRAS mutations and cutting-edge drugs in the area of immune-modulation, whereby the patient's own immune system is mobilized to attack the tumor.

Matthew Burke, MBA, RN, MSN, APRN-BC, Oncology Nurse Practitioner/Melanoma and Renal Cell Carcinoma, Yale New Haven Hospital, discusses the difference between adverse events caused by chemotherapy and immunotherapy.

The results emerging from the PD-1/PD-L1 trials mark a major step forward, noted Rajni Kannan, MN, RN, ANP, in a recent interview on the implications of this research for multiple cancers, including melanoma

Immunotherapy has become an increasingly appealing therapeutic strategy for patients with cancer, with many late-stage clinical trials demonstrating overall survival (OS) advantages in melanoma and castration-resistant prostate cancer.

The FDA has approved the first-ever targeted therapy combination for patients with unresectable or metastatic melanoma who harbor a BRAF V600E or V600K mutation