Procedures & Treatments Available
Multi Center Clinical Trials for Treatment of Stage III and Stage IV Melanoma
Sentinel lymph node biopsy - Stanford surgeons offer exceptional expertise in this advanced procedure used to stage the regional node basin(s) in the setting of invasive, cutaneous melanoma. The sequential combination of preoperative lymphoscintigraphy and intraoperative mapping provides a highly reliable means of identifying the sentinel lymph node in malignant melanoma.
Interleukin-2 therapy -Interleukin-2 is a very potent stimulator of the immune system and as such, has been used in melanoma therapy for about 20 years. Select patients in good health can be offered high dose bolus Interleukin-2 therapy. This is the only FDA approved therapy that, in select patients, induces long term remissions in a small percentage of individuals with metastatic melanoma. It requires stress testing prior to admission and involves 5 days of inpatient therapy every 2 weeks. Certain patients can also receive a program involving chemotherapy combined with lower doses of IL-2 and interferon known as biochemotherapy.
CyberKnife (stereotactic radiosurgery) is offered for brain metastases and selected other sites of disease.
PET (positron emission tomography) scan - To detect melanoma within the body, Stanford utilizes PET (positron emission tomography) scanning to reveal the smallest collections of melanoma cells possible. PET scanners are able to detect melanoma throughout the body based upon the increased metabolic activity of cancer cells, and do not use radiation.
Stanford also offers state-of-art technology for whole-body scanning for melanoma with a combined PET/CT scanner. The PET/CT scanner creates a fusion of the diagnostic capabilities of CT and PET scanning to deliver the most accurate and sensitive detection of melanoma within the body possible.