How bad is stage 2 melanoma?
Stage 2. Stage 2 melanoma means the tumor is more than 1 mm thick and may be larger or have grown deeper into the skin. It may be ulcerated or not ulcerated. The cancer has not spread to nearby lymph nodes or to distant parts of the body.
Does Stage 2 melanoma always come back?
Prognosis Stage 2 Melanoma: With appropriate treatment, Stage II melanoma is considered intermediate to high risk for recurrence or metastasis. The 5-year survival rate as of 2018 for local melanoma, including Stage II, is 98.4%.
What does anatomic Clark level mean?
Clark level of invasion: A method for determining the prognosis (outlook) with melanoma. The method was devised by the pathologist Wallace Clark and measures the depth of penetration of a melanoma into the skin according to anatomic layer.
What is the difference between Breslow and Clark?
The Clark scale is used to determine how many layers of the skin the melanoma has grown into; the Breslow scale is used to determine how thick the melanoma is. The melanoma cells are only in the top layer of the skin, the epidermis.
What does Stage 2 melanoma look like?
Stage 2A means one of the following: the melanoma is between 1 and 2 mm thick and the outermost layer of skin covering the tumour looks broken under the microscope (it is ulcerated) the melanoma is between 2 and 4 mm thick and is not ulcerated.
What treatment is used for stage 2 melanoma?
The standard treatment for Stage II melanoma is surgery, called wide local excision. The purpose of the surgery is to remove any cancer remaining after the biopsy.
How thick is a Stage 2 melanoma?
What does Stage 2 melanoma mean?
In Stage II melanoma, the cancer cells are in both the first layer of skin—the epidermis—and the second layer of skin—the dermis. The melanoma is higher risk than Stage I, either due to depth of tumor or presence of ulceration, but there is no evidence the cancer has spread to lymph nodes or distant sites (metastasis).
Is Clark Level 4 bad?
Sharon was diagnosed with a stage IIA, Clark level IV, 1.73 mm thick malignant melanoma in October 2000. Melanoma, which means “black tumor,” is a malignant mole, or skin cancer. It is among the most malignant of all cancers and can spread to nearly every organ and tissue of the body.
How often does Stage 2 melanoma come back?
A diagnosis of stage 2 melanoma means it has been caught relatively early and most patients don’t have further recurrence of their melanoma once treated.
How does Stage 2 melanoma affect the body?
Stage 2 melanoma is the third stage of skin cancer, so growths have spread from the epidermis (the topmost layer of skin) down through the dermis (the next layer of skin) and in some cases, into the underlying fat and tissue. Sometimes, cells have begun to spread through the skin and enter other parts of the body.
What are the symptoms of Stage 2 melanoma?
Symptoms of stage 2 melanoma are growths on the skin. These growths usually appear as a change in a mole that you already have or as a new skin growth.
What is Clark Level IV melanoma?
Clark levels are officially defined as follows: Level I: Confined to the epidermis (topmost layer of skin) called “in situ” melanoma. Level II: Invasion of the papillary (upper) dermis. Level III: Filling of the papillary dermis, but no extension into the reticular (lower) dermis. Level IV: Invasion of the reticular dermis.
What is Clark Level 2?
Clark’s Level II means it has moved from the epidermis into the top layer of the dermis, nothing more. Usually this lesion would be very thin, but the path report is needed to confirm that. A sentinel node biopsy may or may not be done, again depending on the factors I listed above.