How Skin Cancer is Diagnosed
This section is an introductory guide to how doctors diagnose skin cancer. Included are articles about skin exams, biopsies, CT and MRI scans, and blood and genetic tests. The methods used to determine the stage of skin cancer are also discussed, as are questions you should ask your doctor.
How did you find out about your skin cancer? What were the symptoms? What did the doctor do to confirm the diagnosis? Readers tell us their stories.
An introduction to the methods of diagnosing skin cancer.
An overview of the various types of skin and lymph node biopsies used to diagnose basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and melanoma.
Staging is based on the size of a melanoma tumor and where and how far it has spread. It is critical for planning treatment. Learn more in this comprehensive overview.
The mitotic rate is a measurement of how fast tumor cells are dividing in patients with melanoma. Learn more about how it is used in diagnosis and how it can predict survival.
Clark (depth of invasion) and Breslow (tumor thickness) numbers are used to stage melanoma and determine the prognosis. Learn more in this brief overview.
It goes without saying that getting a skin cancer diagnosis can be emotionally devastating. If you've been diagnosed, you need to ask your doctor these questions about their treatment decisions.
Did your doctor order an LDH test? This guide will explain what the test measures, what the results mean, and its effectiveness in detecting metastasis in melanoma skin cancer.
An introduction to CT, MRI and PET scans for patients newly diagnosed with melanoma.
