TREATMENT PLANNING FOR STAGE IV MELANOMA

TREATMENT PLANNING FOR STAGE IV DISEASE

Below is a discussion of some of the tests and other factors that will be considered in making your treatment plan. This guide will assist you and your healthcare team in assessing these factors so that, together, you can make the decision that is best for you.

TESTING

To evaluate Stage IV melanoma, your oncology team will order a series of pathology or laboratory tests, some on the tumor, others on blood. The tumor is sampled through a biopsy. You will most likely also undergo some imaging scans. The details of different types of biopsies and the imaging scans are discussed in the Appendix. Some of the tests your oncology team will order are checking for biomarkers, which are substances in your tissue, blood, body fluid, or the tumor itself that tell us key information about your cancer. A biomarker might tell us how aggressive your cancer is, whether it will respond to a specific therapy, or how your body is responding to the presence of the cancer. We discuss some key melanoma biomarkers below.

KEY CONSIDERATION

Take charge of your health. You will most likely be very busy undergoing pathology, laboratory, and imaging tests during your evaluation for Stage IV melanoma. When you sit down with your oncologist to make treatment decisions, it’s best to have as many of your test results available as possible. At the very least, make sure your oncologist has

the results of the BRAF testing, because that is key to knowing all of your treatment

options. The details of the BRAF test are described in the text on the next page.