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Melanoma Monday brings awareness to recent developments
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May is Melanoma/Skin Cancer Detection and Prevention Month, with the first Monday of the month designated as Melanoma Monday.
“Melanoma Monday reminds us that this is how we are able to save lives in our specialty,” Orit Markowitz, MD, FAAD, director of pigmented lesions and skin cancer and assistant professor of dermatology at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, told Healio.com/Dermatology. “[It] enables us to reach out to patients in our community and continue our compassionate care for our patients, and helps us reach out to resources like the [American Academy of Dermatology] to help educate our patients.”
Recent developments in melanoma reported on Healio.com/Dermatology include:
Topical imiquimod may be effective alternative to surgery for melanoma in situ
Topical imiquimod cream may be an effective treatment for patients with melanoma in situ who are not candidates for surgery, according to long-term study outcomes published in Dermatologic Surgery.
Researchers conducted a retrospective chart review of 12 white patients with biopsy-proven melanoma in situ (seven men; average age, 79 years) who were treated with topical 5% imiquimod cream between 2004 and 2015 at the dermatology section of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, New Hampshire. Read more
Nivolumab plus ipilimumab improves OS in advanced melanoma
The combination of nivolumab and ipilimumab improved OS among patients with advanced melanoma compared with either treatment alone, according to updated results of the CheckMate 067 clinical trial presented at the American Association of Cancer Research Annual Meeting.
However, the combination also increased toxicity. Read more
VIDEO: Sancy Leachman, MD, PhD, FAAD, discusses 'War on Melanoma' registry
ORLANDO, Fla. — In a video perspective from the American Academy of Dermatology Annual Meeting, Sancy Leachman, MD, PhD, FAAD, discusses Oregon Health and Science University’s “War on Melanoma” registry.
Leachman, professor and chair of the Department of Dermatology at Oregon Health and Science University and director of the melanoma program at Knight Cancer Institute, told Healio.com/Dermatology that the melanoma community registry has three missions: teaching, activism and research. Read more
Researchers examine mole changes through skin cancer screening program data
ORLANDO, Fla. — Researchers found that about a third of participants in an American Academy of Dermatology free skin cancer screening program observed a change in the size, shape or color of a mole, one of the warning signs of melanoma, according to research presented at the AAD annual meeting.
Study results presented by Derek Beaulieu, BS, in a late-breaking research forum involved the 2009-210 AAD SPOTme program data. The researchers, including Hensin Tsao, MD, PhD, FAAD, performed multivariable logistics analysis to identify factors associated with first-time screening participants reporting a recent change in mole morphology. Read more
Mohs micrographic surgery comparable to wide local excision for melanoma in situ
There were no significant differences in outcomes for patients with melanoma in situ who were treated with Mohs micrographic surgery compared with those treated with wide local excision, the current standard of care, according to study results published in JAMA Dermatology.
The researchers retrospectively reviewed a prospective database of 2,299 patients with a diagnosis of primary melanoma treated with either wide local excision (WLE) or Mohs micrographic surgery (MMS). Read more