Skin Cancer

In this new study, investigators searched for potential predictors of melanoma thickness, with implications for treatment decisions regarding biopsy and excision margins.

In this interview with The American Journal of Managed Care®, Sigrun Hallmeyer, MD, medical director of Advocate Lutheran General Hospital’s Cancer Service Line and co-director of medical research at Advocate Aurora Health, in Illinois, touches on several important topics within the melanoma space.

Adult patients from dermatology clinics affiliated with 2 Midwest universities were evaluated for their ability to differentiate skin cancer by sight and for their skin cancer knowledge.

This study investigated how an initial diagnosis influences delivery of second opinions concerning skin cancers, including the possibility of an incorrect diagnosis.

The usefulness of sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy was investigated among patients with melanoma and SLN metastases.

This new study investigated keratinocyte carcinoma mortality and morbidity rates following pediatric solid organ transplant. Little is known on these associations in pediatric patients; more is known of these outcomes among adult patients.

This new study, conducted among persons living with melanoma in situ, investigated the possibility of identifying clinicopathological predictors of local recurrence.

This prospective study on reflectance confocal microscopy, a high-resolution and noninvasive form of imaging for skin cancer, investigated if the diagnostic method could improve accuracy results by 30% following dermoscopy.

In this interview, Vernon Sondak, MD, the chair of the Department of Cutaneous Oncology at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute in Florida, explains the latest approach to treating patients with melanoma with BRAF mutations, including those whose disease has spread to the brain or other sites.

Although melanoma incidence has been reported in Europe overall for the past several decades, specific numbers on the cancer’s incidence in Finland, as well as disease trends, have remained unknown.

Three methods of cosmetic surgery—local skin flap, full thickness skin graft, and secondary intention—were evaluated for their scarring risk following Mohs microscopic surgery on the distal third of the nose.

New date from the KEYNOTE-716 trial show distant metastasis-free survival benefit from pembrolizumab use in melanoma.

The analysis could help investigators better understand why a subset of patients with advanced melanoma develops resistance or does not respond to targeted therapy.

This new report suggests patients with high-risk cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) have improved odds when they undergo Mohs micrographic surgery.

An interim analysis of the KEYNOTE-716 trial of adjuvant pembrolizumab supports its use in the adjuvant setting for patients with resected melanoma.

The combination is the first and only therapy to be approved with a tumor-agnostic indication in both children and adults with solid tumors that have a BRAF V600E mutation, Novartis said late Wednesday.

Omid A. Hamid, MD, chief of Translational Research and Immunotherapy, director, Melanoma Therapeutics, The Angeles Clinic and Research Institute, spoke with The American Journal of Managed Care® (AJMC®) about evaluating therapy options for patients with advanced melanoma.

Brain metastasis from melanoma is particularly deadly and options are limited due to the difficulty of breaching the brain-blood barrier.

Investigators also found patients in nursing homes tend to have larger tumors and may experience quality-of-life benefits from the procedure.

The analysis suggests the marker could be used to screen patients for potential immunotherapy.

The model consists of 3 metabolism-related genes—carbonic anhydrase 12, acyl-CoA synthetase long-chain family member 3, and synaptojanin 2— that the researchers said could potentially be used as biomarkers and treatment targets in the disease.

Medical oncologist Jeffrey S. Weber, MD, PhD, spoke with The American Journal of Managed Care® (AJMC®) about how treatment options have improved for more advanced melanoma cases and the role that genetic mutations play in choosing therapy.

The microenvironment of the skin also helps explain why certain ethnicities appear to have a higher risk of melanoma.

Locally advanced or metastatic basal cell carcinoma can be challenging to treat, but programmed death receptor 1 inhibition may hold potential as a tolerable, effective approach in patients of all ages.

The drug yielded partial responses in 2 of 15 patients in this single-arm, phase 2 study.

Data from this new study suggest melanoma cases rose at a slower rate in lower-income countries, but the authors say that may be due to differences in case documentation.

More experienced dermatopathologists were less likely to see overdiagnosis as a significant public health problem, a new survey showed.

Investigators found 6 genes associated with cancer-associated fibroblasts that appear to correlate with response to anti-PD-1 immunotherapy.

Although classic methods of risk stratification still hold value, the authors said genetic analysis holds significant promise.

The finding is important because evidence suggests it is becoming more common for patients to receive care from a general practitioner for skin cancer, versus a surgeon or dermatologist.