Dr. Shapiro on the Surgical Management of Advanced-Stage Melanoma

Richard L. Shapiro, MD, associate professor, Department of Surgery, NYU Langone Health’s Perlmutter Cancer Center, discusses the surgical management of advanced-stage melanoma.

Most surgeons say that surgical resectability is a state of mind and that, “almost anything is resectable,” says Shapiro. One question that arises when managing advanced-stage melanoma is how to best serve the patient. Over the years, surgeons have become more cosmetically sensitive to the needs of the patient in terms of surgical resectability. Radical resections have a very small role in the management of melanoma in the modern era, Shapiro adds.

When surgery is likely going to be challenging and/or disfiguring, surgeons now have effective agents that may work in the neoadjuvant setting, such as immunotherapy. Today, patients have more treatment options than they previously had available. Surgeons have to be aware of these newer options in order for the patient to get the best result, concludes Shapiro.