Our Approach & Expertise

Our Publications Visit PubMed for a listing of journal articles from our experts in melanoma go

Prevention & Early Detection

Memorial Sloan-Kettering has extensive programs for melanoma prevention and early detection. With the goal of identifying the most important risk factors in order to develop highly effective prevention strategies for persons at high risk for contracting melanoma, our epidemiologists are leading an international five-year investigation, sponsored by the National Cancer Institute, of the genetic and environmental factors that underlie susceptibility to the disease.

Digital Imaging Screening

Our Rockefeller Outpatient Pavilion houses a fully computerized photography system to follow patients at risk for melanoma. The Digital Imaging Screening program uses computerized photography for follow-up screening of patients with a large number of irregular moles, known as dysplastic nevi, which are associated with an increased risk of melanoma. A digital photographic record of the patient's moles is created and stored. When the patient returns for subsequent appointments, any suspected change in a mole can be verified by an immediate comparison to the prior computerized photographic record.

Melanoma Nomogram Our Melanoma Nomogram is designed to help physicians and patients decide which treatment approach will result in the greatest benefit go

Confocal Microscopy

Our physicians are evaluating a new technique for examination of skin lesions, called confocal microscopy. This specialized technique provides sharply focused microscopic images of the superficial layers of the skin. Unlike conventional microscopy (which requires that a skin sample be removed by invasive biopsy, fixed, and thinly sliced), confocal microscopy can be used on live, intact cells and tissue. In the body, or in vivo, confocal microscopy is being studied as a potential noninvasive aid to the diagnosis of skin cancer.

Management of Local Disease

When melanoma is limited to the skin, it can often be removed with a simple surgical excision -- including a "safety margin" of clinically normal skin. For early detection of possible spread of disease before surgery, Memorial Sloan-Kettering researchers have also developed techniques to detect individual melanoma cells that may have broken away from a primary tumor. One such technique -- called reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) -- can detect one melanoma cell in one million circulating blood cells.

	Flash Player is required to view this video. CancerSmart Web Cast March 22, 2007 -- Drs. Hadley Claire King, Kishwer Nehal, and Jedd Wolchok present "The latest developments in the screening and treatment of skin cancer." Total Run time: 55 minutes

Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy

Our surgeons were among the first to use a state-of-the-art procedure that can determine during surgery whether a melanoma tumor has spread to surrounding lymph nodes, and we now offer the treatment as standard therapy when indicated. The procedure -- known as gamma-probe-guided lymphatic mapping and sentinel lymph node biopsy -- uses a radiolabeled material to pinpoint the precise lymph node into which a nearby tumor would travel first, if it were to travel at all. That "sentinel node" can then be biopsied. If the biopsy indicates metastasis, the surrounding lymph nodes can be removed. But if there is no evidence of cancer spread, patients are spared further surgery.

Treatment of Metastatic Melanoma

In a major research effort to improve the clinical management of metastatic melanoma, Memorial Sloan-Kettering physicians are evaluating positron emission tomography (PET) as a potentially more accurate tool than computed tomography (CT) to detect and determine the extent of disease.

For patients whose melanoma has spread regionally to nearby tissues or more broadly to other organs, our doctors offer individualized programs combining surgery with one or more adjuvant treatments such as chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and immunotherapy.

Find a Clinical Trial Find out about new research studies for melanoma more

Investigative Approaches

Our investigators were among the first to develop vaccines that may help prevent spread or recurrence of a tumor in melanoma patients who have been treated for the disease. Another investigational approach for melanoma is based on gene therapy using DNA as a vaccine; researchers here have pioneered types of DNA vaccines in the laboratory to trigger immune responses to melanoma.

To develop improved treatments for patients with established metastatic disease, Memorial Sloan-Kettering is evaluating novel combinations of chemotherapy with or without biologic agents such as interleukin-2 and interferon.

These investigational approaches are sometimes offered to eligible patients through the clinical trial process. For up-to-date details about current clinical trials at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, please visit our clinical trial database.