Melanoma

Treatment

Mayo Clinic treats all types of malignant melanoma, including ocular melanoma. Treatment options typically include surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, interferon therapy and experimental therapy.

For people with early stage, resectable (removable by surgery) melanoma, surgeons usually recommend surgery alone or in combination with sentinel lymph node biopsy. For people with advanced disease (melanoma that has spread) treatments consist of chemotherapy, interferon therapy or experimental therapies in which new agents are used against this disease.

Treatment decisions are made by a multidisciplinary team, including the patient, which considers the multitude of options for therapy and selects a treatment strategy based on the specifics of each case.

Mayo Clinic has an active and innovative research program. Patients are offered the opportunity to participate in clinical trials when new, investigational therapy is appropriate for their medical situation.