Our Approach & Expertise

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

The Rockefeller Outpatient Pavilion at Memorial Sloan-Kettering houses a fully computerized photography system to follow patients at risk for melanoma. The Digital Imaging Screening Program uses computerized photography to screen patients with a large number of irregularly shaped 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 comparing it to the prior computerized photographic record.

Memorial Sloan-Kettering offers comprehensive skin cancer screening at our state-of-the-art facilities in Hauppauge, Long Island, and Basking Ridge, New Jersey. Doctors at these facilities use the latest imaging technologies to help detect skin cancer. These include total body photography, individual lesion photography (photographing a specific area of abnormal skin), and dermoscopy (using a hand-held instrument to see structures below the superficial layer of the skin).

Memorial Sloan-Kettering also has extensive programs to improve melanoma prevention. Our epidemiologists are leading an international five-year investigation, sponsored by the National Cancer Institute, to investigate the genetic and environmental factors that make some people more susceptible to this disease and to develop effective prevention strategies for people at high risk for developing melanoma.

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

Simple surgical removal of the tumor and a small amount of normal skin around the edge of the tumor (known as a safety margin) is the standard treatment for melanoma that is limited to the most superficial layer of skin (called the epidermis).

However, even localized melanoma has the potential to metastasize. Previously, surgeons routinely removed many or all of the lymph nodes surrounding the primary tumor, which could cause lymphedema (a condition in which excess fluid collects in tissue and causes swelling). Our surgeons were among the first to use a state-of-the-art procedure called gamma-probe-guided lymphatic mapping and sentinel lymph node biopsy to determine whether melanoma has spread to surrounding lymph nodes -- and whether removal of the lymph nodes is necessary. We now offer this procedure to many patients in the initial evaluation and management of melanoma.

	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

We provide a full range of therapies for patients with melanoma that has metastasized. Depending on where the melanoma has spread, doctors may choose from a variety of treatments including surgery, stereotactic radiosurgery (an alternative to surgery for certain metastases in which a single, high dose of radiation is delivered directly to the tumor), and systemic treatments such as immunotherapy (medications that enhance the body's immune response to disease), chemotherapy, and combinations of these treatments.

Memorial Sloan-Kettering was the first center in the United States to offer a minimally invasive technique of delivering chemotherapy called isolated limb infusion to patients with regionally recurrent melanoma. Patients with untreated stage IV melanoma, especially those with tumors that can be biopsied or injected, may be eligible for treatment with investigational drugs that stimulate the immune system or target the products of genes that lead to melanoma progression.

Because melanoma can recur even after complete removal of the cancer -- and because melanoma survivors are at higher-than-average risk for non-melanoma skin cancers -- ongoing follow-up examinations and dermatologic screening are essential after treatment.

Melanoma of the Eye (Ocular Melanoma)

Our ophthalmologists are experienced in diagnosing melanoma of the eye (ocular melanoma) and use a broad spectrum of therapeutic modalities. Our team participated in the landmark COMS (Collaborative Ocular Melanoma) Study, sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, to identify optimal treatments for patients with choroidal melanoma, the most common form of ocular melanoma.

Memorial Sloan-Kettering's integrated approach to radiation therapy and surgery allows us to provide highly individualized and coordinated care. Our ocular melanoma team has extensive experience in a type of radiation therapy called brachytherapy, a sight-sparing alternative to surgery for choroidal melanoma. We also have special expertise in dealing with the potential side effects of therapy, including dry eye syndrome after radiotherapy.

For information about diagnosing and treating melanoma of the eye, visit that section of this cancer overview. 

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

Memorial Sloan-Kettering is dedicated to learning more about the causes of melanoma and improving the management of this disease through ongoing laboratory and clinical research.

Our physicians are evaluating an investigational diagnostic technique for examining skin lesions called in vivo (in the body) confocal microscopy, which provides sharply focused microscopic images of the superficial layers of the skin. Unlike conventional microscopy, which requires surgical removal of a skin sample for biopsy in a laboratory, confocal microscopy can be used on live, intact cells and tissue. Studies will determine the role of confocal microscopy as a diagnostic tool that may be used in combination with traditional microscopy.

Our medical oncologists are testing many new chemotherapy drugs, drug combinations, immunologic treatments including melanoma vaccines, and novel compounds that target the genetic processes involved in the progression of melanoma. Many of these new therapies are available only through clinical trials at Memorial Sloan-Kettering.