Melanoma

Mohs surgery has been well-established as the gold standard for the treatment of BCCs and SCCs. And, as described in this article, preliminary reports suggest that it may play an equally important role in the management of several other cutaneous malignancies.
• Commentary (Neel/Sober)
• Commentary (Brown)

Patients having locoregional or metastatic melanoma have a poor prognosis, with 50% to 100% of patients dying from the disease within 5 years. Current chemotherapy regimens offer limited benefits to these patients, and more effective and less toxic treatments are needed.

The combination treatment regimen of GM-CSF and IL-2 with or without autologous vaccine used adjuvantly appears to benefit high-risk melanoma patients; further clinical testing of this regimen is warranted.

Vaccines are a promising but still experimental treatment for melanoma. They are intended to stimulate immune responses against melanoma and by so doing, increase resistance against and slow the progression of this cancer.
• Commentary (Fox)
• Commentary (Berd)

The use of radiation as adjuvant therapy for patients with cutaneous malignant melanoma has been hindered by the unsubstantiated belief that melanoma cells are radioresistant.
• Commentary (Fuhrmann/Suter)
• Commentary (Shen)
• Commentary (Kirkwood et al)

A 3-year-old child is evaluated for leukocoria (white pupil) of the right eye. Ophthalmic evaluation revealed the presence of a mass behind the lens. Surgical removal of the right eye was performed. What is your Diagnosis?

A 38-year-old man consults for a small subcutaneous nodule of approximately 2 cm in diameter. Surgical excision of the tumor nodule is performed. What is your diagnosis?

A 67-year-old African American female presented with an approximately 18-month history of a solitary, asymptomatic lesion on the right leg. This patient most likely has what tumor on her leg?