According to the American Cancer Society , the 5-year survival rate for stage 4 melanoma is 15–20 percent. This means that an estimated 15–20 percent of people with stage 4 melanoma will be alive 5 years after diagnosis. Many different factors influence an individual's chance of survival.
When stage 4 melanoma is diagnosed after a scan, there may be no symptoms at all, and it can be difficult to believe the cancer has spread. However, people with stage 4 melanoma may have a very wide range of symptoms. People who have melanoma diagnosed in the brain are told not to drive.
According to the American Cancer Society, the five-year survival rate for people diagnosed with stage 3 melanoma that has spread to nearby lymph nodes or structures (regional spread) is 66 percent. For patients diagnosed with stage 4 melanoma (distant spread), the five-year survival rate is 27 percent.
How fast does melanoma spread and grow to local lymph nodes and other organs? “Melanoma can grow extremely quickly and can become life-threatening in as little as six weeks,” noted Dr. Duncanson.
Survival for all stages of melanoma
almost all people (almost 100%) will survive their melanoma for 1 year or more after they are diagnosed. around 90 out of every 100 people (around 90%) will survive their melanoma for 5 years or more after diagnosis.
“You could have melanoma for a long time before you realize it, because some types are not so obvious. Some aggressive forms, like nodular melanoma, grow fast, are visible and can hurt or bleed.” While certain groups may be at a higher risk for melanoma, anyone can get the disease.
Once a tumor has spread to distant body sites such as organs, it is considered a stage IV melanoma, with an estimated five-year survival rate of only 18 percent in the U.S. These survival figures are improving every year because of new treatments (some therapies are keeping as much as 40 percent of stage IV patients ...
Stage IV melanoma is difficult to cure as it has already spread to other parts of the body. However, a growing number of people respond well to treatment, achieve No Evidence of Disease (NED), and survive for many years.
Doctors have known for decades that melanoma and many other cancer types tend to spread first into nearby lymph nodes before entering the blood and traveling to distant parts of the body.
Symptoms of metastatic melanoma other than a mole
Lungs – A persistent cough or shortness of breath. Brain – Headaches or seizures. Lymph nodes – Swelling of the lymph nodes. Liver – Loss of appetite or unexplained weight loss.
The relative 5-year survival rate drops from 99% in stages 1 and 2 to 66.2% in stage 3 to only 27.3% in stage 4. 2 Stage 4 melanoma is very difficult to treat and has a low survival rate because it has metastasized, but a small population of people with this stage of melanoma respond well to treatment.
Stage 4 is also called advanced melanoma. It means the melanoma has spread elsewhere in the body, away from where it started (the primary site) and the nearby lymph nodes. The most common places for melanoma to spread include the: lungs.
Because stage IV melanoma is often hard to cure with current treatments, patients may want to think about taking part in a clinical trial. Many studies are now looking at new targeted drugs, immunotherapies, chemotherapy drugs, and combinations of different types of treatments.
Studies have shown that 80% of bone metastases from malignant melanoma are found in the axial skeleton (skull, ribs, vertebral column, and pelvis) 27.
Melanoma that has spread to the brain may cause headaches and sickness. These can be worse first thing in the morning. Other symptoms depend on the area of the brain affected. They may include numbness or weakness in a limb, or having a seizure (fit).
Some types of melanoma can grow very quickly, becoming life-threatening in as little as six weeks. If left untreated it can spread to other parts of the body. Nodular melanoma is a highly dangerous form of melanoma that looks different from common melanomas and can grow in just a few weeks.
The median time from primary melanoma diagnosis to brain metastasis was 3.2 years (range, 0–29.8 years), and the median time from stage IV diagnosis to brain metastasis was 2 months (range, 0–103 months).
Melanoma can cause pain in the bones where it's spread, and some people—those with very little body fat covering their bones—may be able to feel a lump or mass. Metastatic melanoma can also weaken the bones, making them fracture or break very easily. This is most common in the arms, legs, and spine.
Treatment for Stage IV Melanoma
If you have progressed from an earlier stage diagnosis, your treatment will have included wide local excision and maybe sentinel lymph node biopsy, among other treatments. For Stage IV specifically, treatments include surgery, systemic therapies, radiation therapy, and clinical trials.
Tiredness and feeling unwell
Tiredness (fatigue) is a common symptom of advanced cancer. You may feel that you lack energy, and this can be overwhelming.
Melanoma can grow very quickly. It can become life-threatening in as little as 6 weeks and, if untreated, it can spread to other parts of the body. Melanoma can appear on skin not normally exposed to the sun.
Melanoma is often considered a disease of older people, since about half of melanomas occur in people over the age of 50, with the median age at diagnosis being 59. While older adults are at higher risk of developing melanoma, the incidence of melanoma is rapidly rising in young adults.
Melanoma is a type of skin cancer, and nodular melanoma is the most aggressive form. Nodular melanoma usually appears as a small black lump. It is more common in men and people older than 60.