my friend had a mole removed that was melenoma 9 years ago had treatment I think chemo and has been seeing her cancer doctor for the past 9 years once /year supposedly cancer freeabout two months age she went in for stomach pain and was told she has stage 4 melanoma around her stomach lining tumors on the brain whole body full of cancer cant do some new trial teatment cuz she takes blood thinners and too low of a blood count for that or chemo anything we should try.
Hi, Thanks for writing in. Sorry to hear about the progress of cancer in your friend and hope she is not in much pain and discomfort. Malignant melanoma is an aggressive type of cancer that can cause metastasis even after years. As cancer has spread to the stomach and brain, it is best to get treated by recommended chemotherapy agents as suggested by her oncologist. Please do not delay treatment as the cancer spread needs to be controlled immediately to extend the survival. Treatments that are being studied in clinical trials for recurrent melanoma with metastasis include the following:1. Biologic therapy agents alone or in combination.2. Targeted therapy with other signal transduction inhibitors.3. Angiogenesis inhibitors.4. Targeted therapy for melanoma with gene mutations.5. Treatment with injections into the tumor, such as oncologic virus therapy.6. Surgery to remove all known cancer.7. Regional chemotherapy and Systemic chemotherapy. Discuss the above treatment options with her doctor. Please do not worry.