Melanoma - New Therapies to Fight Skin Cancer

In 80% of cases, melanoma develops “de novo”, i.e. on healthy skin. Only about 10-20% of melanomas arise in / from an existing birthmark. There is also a genetic component. People with a large number of birthmarks have a higher risk of melanoma than people with less than 25 birthmarks. UV light or exposure to the sun is a high risk factor.

First and foremost, the patient recognizes a newly appeared mole that may show signs of atypia and does not appear to be similar to the other moles.

The suspected diagnosis can be made with a magnifying examination lamp, the final diagnosis is then based on the histological findings after removal.

You can have your moles checked regularly and, if necessary, saved digitally so that you can check them once a year.

As a rule, you should see a dermatologist once a year if you have a lot of moles, plenty of sun exposure and / or a family member with melanoma.

Drug therapy is usually necessary if the penetration depth of the malignant cells is greater than 0.8 - 1.5 mm Breslow index and / or lymph nodes are also involved, if there is an increased risk of the formation of metastases or these have already occurred.

The treatment of metastatic malignant melanoma has changed significantly in recent years. Instead of hardly effective cytostatics, new targeted drugs and immunologically effective substances are the means of choice today. They achieve significantly better survival rates and open up the chance of long-term survival.

For the advanced stages there are adjuvant interferon-alpha therapy, immunotherapy with ipilimumab or anti-PD1 antibodies (nivolumab, pembrolizumab). Patients who show a BRAF mutation – the most common mutation which accelerates the growth of the tumor - can also be treated with BRAF inhibitors such as vemurafenib. The decision about the therapy must be made in conjunction with many other factors such as lymph nodes or organ involvement, mitotic rate, depth of penetration, age of the patient and comorbidities.

Please contact us for further information or appointments!

Contact:

Döbling Private Hospital

Heiligenstädter Straße 55-63
1190 Vienna • Austria

T: +43 1 360 66-7755
E: international@pkd.at