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Below, week by week, is what OnCo's record of Stage IIB and IIC melanoma says about the first two months: the order is typical, the timing is yours to ask about. Stage IIB and IIC melanomas are thick or ulcerated skin melanomas that have not reached the lymph nodes but still carry a real risk of coming back. A year of pembrolizumab or nivolumab after surgery lowers that risk, though most people in this group would have been cured by surgery alone, so the decision weighs a modest benefit against a year of treatment. Sections appear only where the record has something to say. Orientation, not medical advice.
Staging tests establish exactly what and where the cancer is. Everything else follows from the answers.
Wide local excision with margins set by thickness and sentinel lymph node biopsy for primaries over 0.8 mm or with ulceration.
Ask which of these were tested and what the results were; see the report reader for what each value means.
These specialties appear in the standard of care for this cancer. In most centres they meet weekly as a tumour board to agree each plan; you can ask when yours was discussed and what was decided.
A second opinion from a centre that treats many similar cases is normal, not rude; the standard of care tells you what to compare it against.
Each row is a setting from the standard of care, in the order it usually arises. Not all will apply to you; your stage and biomarkers decide which do. The guideline grade, where recorded, says how strong the evidence is.
One year of pembrolizumab (KEYNOTE-716) or nivolumab (CheckMate 76K), or observation after a shared decision about a modest benefit and immune side effects.
Intismeran autogene with pembrolizumab met its endpoints in INTerpath-001, which included stage IIB and IIC; regulatory review pending.
Skin and nodal examination and, for higher-risk disease, imaging at intervals; patient education on self-examination.
Generated from this cancer's standard of care, biomarkers and open problems. Take the group that matches where you are. To tick, add your own and print, open the one-page appointment sheet.
Trials open now for this cancer in OnCo, largest phase first. Joining a trial is a decision like any other: ask what the comparison arm is, whether a placebo is used, and what happens if you leave. The cancer page searches ClinicalTrials.gov live for more.
Much of what helps in the first weeks is free if you know to ask: testing, helplines, rides and lodging, second opinions, trial travel.
Every term links to the glossary.