Expert: Michael Dean - 1/17/2008

Question
My dad just found out he has Malenoma.  The tumor has been removed on his upper thigh and has told me that it was the size of about a 6 ounce steak.  He had what they called a routine chest xray and they called this morning saying they have found a spot on his lung.  Now they are doing a CT scan tomorrow.  Does this sound like a large tumor, everything I have read measures in mm's and this sounds much bigger.  The doctor did say it is malignant and that he thinks he got it all, how can he say that if it has not be tested yet.  He said no treatment but to be checked every three months for the next four years.  That doesn't sound quite right to me, I am confused with all the info does this sound like normal procedure?  Could this be lung cancer we are looking at now.  They moved very fast in removing the tumor and told him if they didn't he would be pushing daisies by this spring, but yet it doesn't need cancer treatment.  Please help me better understand all of this can does this make sense with what we are being told?

Confused and concerned.

Answer
Dear Kelli,

I am very sorry to hear about your dad. I understand your concern. My uncle died of melanoma and this can be a nasty disease.

Once melanomas gets beyond a certain size they can spread. The critical thing is the thickness. If you can find out the staging they designated it, and whether they looked at and found cancer in local lymph nodes, I can tell you more. For early stage disease, no chemo and exams every 3 months are standard.

It could be that the spot on the lung is a melanoma that spread. How big is the lung spot? It is also possible that the lung spot is not cancer. They should know from the CT scan and a biopsy if they decide to do it.

Where is he being treated?

When you say "The doctor did say it is malignant and that he thinks he got it all" does that mean the tumor on his thigh? Yes they probably got all of that, but if it was big it may have already started spreading.

Here is the NCI site on melanoma:
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/types/melanoma

Let me know how it goes, and if you have more questions.

Mike