? Treatment

[srjustice]

Hello I just got diagnosed about 1 month ago with stage 3C Melanoma. ( I first had stage 1 17yrs ago) I have spoke with 2 different cancer centers. When diagnosed was living in Utah and then a week after my big surgery (removal of lymph nodes in neck) ended moving to Colorado. My main ? Is the treatments are about the same however the team in Utah recommends radiation and then immunotherapy. The one I am seeing here in Colorado has said that she wouldn't do the radiation because the immunotherapy will take care of fighting the cancer. She said the long term side effects from radiation would be hard. However she said it is up to me. Any input? Have you had radiation and wish that you hadn't if given the chance? Thank you! Sherrie

[Robynfine]

Good morning! I can only speak from my own experiences. I did ipi and no radiation. It did work for me. I can't tell you what to do either so go with your gut. Where is the met located?

Robyn

[srjustice in reply to Robynfine]

Thank you. It is in my neck (lymph nodes) they removed 84 and 4 or 5 came back with the cancer

[jennunicorn21]

Adjuvant radiation is not that common for melanoma anymore.

Here are the findings from a study done some years ago comparing those who had adjuvant radiation to those who did nothing:

Findings

Between March 21, 2003, and Nov 15, 2007, we randomly assigned 123 patients to adjuvant radiotherapy (109 eligible for efficacy assessments) and 127 to observation (108 eligible). The final follow-up date was Nov 15, 2011. Median follow-up was 73 months (IQR 61–91). 23 (21%) relapses occurred in the adjuvant radiotherapy group compared with 39 (36%) in the observation group (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] 0·52 [95% CI 0·31–0·88], p=0·023). Overall survival (HR 1·27 [95% CI 0·89–1·79], p=0·21) and relapse-free survival (0·89 [0·65–1·22], p=0·51) did not differ between groups. Minor, long-term toxic effects from radiotherapy (predominantly pain, and fibrosis of the skin or subcutaneous tissue) were common, and 20 (22%) of 90 patients receiving adjuvant radiotherapy developed grade 3–4 toxic effects. 18 (20%) of 90 patients had grade 3 toxic effects, mainly affecting skin (nine [10%] patients) and subcutaneous tissue (six [7%] patients). Over 5 years, a significant increase in lower limb volumes was noted after adjuvant radiotherapy (mean volume ratio 15·0%) compared with observation (7·7%; difference 7·3% [95% CI 1·5–13·1], p=0·014). No significant differences in upper limb volume were noted between groups.

thelancet.com/journals/lano...

Wish I could bold the important parts, but basically the findings were that those who had radiation did not do any better than those who did no treatment. But those who did radiation ended up having a lot of side effects.

Yervoy has since been approved as an adjuvant treatment and has shown to help, without the use of radiation. It comes with its own list of possible side effects... I say possible because it is very individual and you won't know how your body will react until you begin. I did it myself and had very little side effects. Others have done it and only been able to get through a couple infusions before having to stop due to severe side effects. Be aware of them, anytime you don't feel well, like upset stomach, headaches, etc, let your oncologist know right away. The sooner a side effect can be treated, the better off you'll be.

Wishing you the best,

Jenn

[srjustice in reply to jennunicorn21]

Thank you so much.

[Lindsey2017]

I agree with the others, after my stage 4 diagnosis my dr. here at the University of Kansas Cancer Center said Melanoma isn't very responsive to radiation unless it's in the brain.

[srjustice in reply to Lindsey2017]

I so appreciate everyone!