The WAM Foundation - War Against Melanoma

(See Treatment)

Information provided by the National Cancer Institute, The Skin Cancer Foundation,
and the Melanoma Research Foundation. For more detailed information go to:

National Cancer Institute - http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/types/melanoma
The Skin Cancer Foundation - http://www.skincancer.org
Melanoma Research Foundation - http://www.melanoma.org

Disclaimer:
The material contained on this site is for informational and educational purposes only and is not intended and should not
construed to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. You should not rely on any
information contained on this site as a substitute for medical advice and always seek the advice of your physician or other
qualified health provider with any questions or concerns you may have regarding a medical condition.

If the diagnosis is melanoma, the doctor needs to learn the extent, or stage, of the disease before
planning treatment. Staging is a careful attempt to learn how thick the tumor is, how deeply the
melanoma has invaded the skin, and whether melanoma cells have spread to nearby lymph nodes
or other parts of the body. The doctor may remove nearby lymph nodes to check for cancer cells.
(Such surgery may be considered part of the treatment because removing cancerous lymph nodes
may help control the disease.) The doctor also does a careful physical exam and, if the tumor is
thick, may order chest x-rays, blood tests, and scans of the liver, bones, and brain.

Stage I: Melanoma in stage I is thin:
The tumor is no more than 1 millimeter (1/25 inch) thick. The outer layer (epidermis)
of skin may appear scraped. (This is called an ulceration).
Or, the tumor is between 1 and 2 millimeters (1/12 inch) thick. There is no ulceration.
The melanoma cells have not spread to nearby lymph

Stage II: The tumor is at least 1 millimeter thick:
The tumor is between 1 and 2 millimeters thick. There is ulceration.
Or, the thickness of the tumor is more than 2 millimeters. There may be ulceration.
The melanoma cells have not spread to nearby lymph nodes.

Stage III: The melanoma cells have spread to nearby tissues:
The melanoma cells have spread to one or more nearby lymph nodes.
Or, the melanoma cells have spread to tissues just outside the original tumor but not to
any lymph nodes.

Recurrent: Recurrent disease means that the cancer has come back (recurred) after it
has been treated. It may have come back in the original site or in another part of the
body.