Expert: Claes-Gustaf Nordquist, M.D. - 4/30/2011

Question
My husband had a nodular melanoma removed from his calf in 2008.  The took a second large piece of the muscle, size of a baseball and got clean margins.  At that time they removed the lymph nodes in his groin for biopsy and they were clean.  A week ago he developed a blood clot in his lung.  When they did a CT to look for the blood clot they found cancer on his adrenal gland, spine, and abdominal lymph nodes.  A further CT showed no cancer in his brain lungs or bones.  A friend says because the cancer is in at least three spots it is still considered a terminal condition with treatment just to prolong his life a few extra months.  Is that really true?????

Answer
Since his malignant melanoma seems to have spread to his spine and to at least one adrenal gland - that is to other organs - and to abdominal lymph nodes his malignancy must be considered to be a stage 4 tumor. Such a tumor is at present incurable - and usually eventually lethal. Many such cancers can still be controled - at least for some time - with chemotherapy and radiation therapy. However malignant melanomas are usually not very sensitive to radiation therapy and chemotherapy. There are some new chemotherapy agents that seem to have some effects here but experience is still very limited. Some interesting and promising immunotherapy experiments are also going on but they are still experiments.  So unfortunately that is more or less the essential truth. I'm sorry I have nothing better to tell you!


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