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Interpret Pathology for me please!
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Interpret Pathology for me please!

› Forums › Cutaneous Melanoma Community › Interpret Pathology for me please!

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    • July 20, 2019 at 3:50 am
    Hanaln
    Participant
      Can anyone put this into lay mans terms for me? My husband was diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic melanoma in April and is doing well on Keytruda so far. But I’d like to learn more about what his initial pathology report is saying. Thanks in advance!

      MICROSCOPIC EXAMINATION: –
      Sections demonstrate a well delineated dermal and subcutaneous proliferation of severely atypical epithelioid melanocytes with numerous mitotic figures and focal melanin pigment. The tumor is strongly positive for a panmelanocytic cocktail (HMB-45, Melan-A, and Tyrosinase). The tissue edges appear clear in the plane of sections examined.

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        • July 21, 2019 at 2:08 pm
        ed williams
        Participant
          Hi there Hanaln, could you copy the whole report or type out the whole report to better give the whole picture of the report. Also, what kind of situation is your husband in as far as present tumor situation and tumor burden would be helpful. Most oncologist will send out tissue to find out if he is Braf positive or negative and look at blood work to see LDH levels a long with tumor burden and characteristics of tumors ie. are they growing quickly etc. Unless the original tissue is being sent out for genetic screen like the foundation test or Tapur or NcI-match or some other in house genetic profile like they do at some of the big hospitals then original tumor is not of much value after they choose a treatment plan like going to Pd-1 monotherapy like in your husbands case. Here is a pretty good explanation to the treatment factors in making a decision. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5YNFL75Bq8 https://www.tapur.org/patients https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/treatment/clinical-trials/nci-supported/nci-match
          • July 23, 2019 at 6:11 pm
          Ellie_82
          Participant
            From the small section of text that you posted, I can only understand that it is melanoma with many mitoses (makes sense since you are saying that it is stage IV), and also that the margins appear to be clear. Can you post the whole report?
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