Personalized Medicine in Melanoma

Vernon K. Sondak, MD, chair of the Department of Cutaneous Oncology at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida, talks about personalized medicine when treating patients with melanoma.

Sondak says physicians have embraced the idea of personalized medicine when treating patients with melanoma. Physicians now make individualized decisions for almost every melanoma patient along the disease spectrum.

But personalized medicine is especially important when treating patients with late-stage disease. Sondak stressed that personalized medicine in melanoma is more than just checking for gene mutations and administering targeted agents. Surgery and immune therapy is often used before administering targeted therapies when taking a personalized approach.

Physicians must consider many factors, in addition to mutation status, before making a personalized decision about what treatment to use for patients with advanced melanoma.

Clinical Pearls

• Physicians have embraced the idea of taking a personal approach when treating patients with melanoma
• Personalized medicine is especially important when treating patients with late-stage melanoma
• Physicians must consider many factors in addition to gene mutation status before making a personalized decision about treatment for patients with advanced melanoma