Surgery for Melanoma Skin Cancer

There are several types of surgery used to treat melanoma.

Simple excision
The tumour is cut out, along with a small amount of normal (non-cancerous) marginal skin around the edge of the tumour. The remaining skin is then stitched back together. Before the incision, a local anesthetic is injected into the area to numb it.

Re-excision
This procedure is done after melanoma is diagnosed from an excisional biopsy. The doctor cuts away more skin from the melanoma site and examines it to make sure that no cancer cells remain in the skin.

Sentinel node dissection (lymphadenectomy)
If a sentinel node biopsy shows that melanoma cells are present in the lymph nodes, the lymph nodes closest to the melanoma are surgically removed. If the lymph nodes feel very hard or large, or if a fine needle aspiration indicates melanoma cells, a dissection is also usually performed. After the lymph nodes are removed, they are examined under a microscope to see how many of them are cancerous. Be sure to discuss the potential risks and side effects of this procedure with your doctor.

Amputation
Amputation may occasionally be necessary for melanomas found on a finger or toe. The affected digit or part of the digit may be amputated.

Surgery for Metastatic Melanoma

Once melanoma has spread from the skin to distant organs, the cancer is rarely curable by surgery. If it appears that the cancer has metastasized to just one other place in the body, the cancer is surgically removed and patients are sometimes cured successfully. However, even when imaging studies (CT or MRI scans) show just one or two metastases, there may be many others too small to be detected by these scans. Nevertheless, surgery is sometimes performed to help some patients live longer or to relieve symptoms and improve their quality of life.