What are the odds of long term NED with surgical route?

Congrats on the NED status!

It will be gamble, but I think pretty much anything is with melanoma. There are plenty of folks who are Stage III and have remained so for years and this includes those who've done interferon and who have done "watch and wait". "Watch and wait" means your only treatment has been surgery and now you're under close doctor observation that will involve PET and/or CT scans done at regularly scheduled intervals.

Melanoma is a tricky beast. For some folks it has returned in under a year, for others it's returned years later. I would presume that some never had to deal with it again, but these folks don't post here very often.

This is from some notes I too during one visit with an oncologist: if you opt for interferon it would delay relapse by only about a year. You only increase your chances of it never coming back by 5%.

From that same visit I learned that if you opted for "watch and wait" it's really not all that different.

The other statistic that was discussed was, the longer you go without the melanoma returning, the less the odds are that it will return.

Before you make your final decision, make sure your doctor has discussed all options with you, including clinical trials.

Congrats on the NED status!

It will be gamble, but I think pretty much anything is with melanoma. There are plenty of folks who are Stage III and have remained so for years and this includes those who've done interferon and who have done "watch and wait". "Watch and wait" means your only treatment has been surgery and now you're under close doctor observation that will involve PET and/or CT scans done at regularly scheduled intervals.

Melanoma is a tricky beast. For some folks it has returned in under a year, for others it's returned years later. I would presume that some never had to deal with it again, but these folks don't post here very often.

This is from some notes I too during one visit with an oncologist: if you opt for interferon it would delay relapse by only about a year. You only increase your chances of it never coming back by 5%.

From that same visit I learned that if you opted for "watch and wait" it's really not all that different.

The other statistic that was discussed was, the longer you go without the melanoma returning, the less the odds are that it will return.

Before you make your final decision, make sure your doctor has discussed all options with you, including clinical trials.

Congrats on the NED status!

It will be gamble, but I think pretty much anything is with melanoma. There are plenty of folks who are Stage III and have remained so for years and this includes those who've done interferon and who have done "watch and wait". "Watch and wait" means your only treatment has been surgery and now you're under close doctor observation that will involve PET and/or CT scans done at regularly scheduled intervals.

Melanoma is a tricky beast. For some folks it has returned in under a year, for others it's returned years later. I would presume that some never had to deal with it again, but these folks don't post here very often.

This is from some notes I too during one visit with an oncologist: if you opt for interferon it would delay relapse by only about a year. You only increase your chances of it never coming back by 5%.

From that same visit I learned that if you opted for "watch and wait" it's really not all that different.

The other statistic that was discussed was, the longer you go without the melanoma returning, the less the odds are that it will return.

Before you make your final decision, make sure your doctor has discussed all options with you, including clinical trials.

It depends on a number of factors.  Where your orginal mole was, exactly what stage you were in 3a, b or c.  And then of course the fact that as anyone will tell you, Melanoma seems to have a mind of it's own, I don't know that anyone knows for sure.  I can tell you I am stage 3a, I opted for "wait and watch" and I am 4 years NED.  My mole was on my trunk which is a fairly good place to have it.

It depends on a number of factors.  Where your orginal mole was, exactly what stage you were in 3a, b or c.  And then of course the fact that as anyone will tell you, Melanoma seems to have a mind of it's own, I don't know that anyone knows for sure.  I can tell you I am stage 3a, I opted for "wait and watch" and I am 4 years NED.  My mole was on my trunk which is a fairly good place to have it.

It depends on a number of factors.  Where your orginal mole was, exactly what stage you were in 3a, b or c.  And then of course the fact that as anyone will tell you, Melanoma seems to have a mind of it's own, I don't know that anyone knows for sure.  I can tell you I am stage 3a, I opted for "wait and watch" and I am 4 years NED.  My mole was on my trunk which is a fairly good place to have it.

I have had mets surgically removed from each lung, brain and small intestine.  My last surgery was 4 1/2 years ago and I have been NED since.

I have had mets surgically removed from each lung, brain and small intestine.  My last surgery was 4 1/2 years ago and I have been NED since.

I have had mets surgically removed from each lung, brain and small intestine.  My last surgery was 4 1/2 years ago and I have been NED since.