Health Dictionary
Reliable, easy-to-read patient information on common medical conditions — written in plain language, free of jargon, and grounded in current evidence. Browse the most frequent diagnoses, understand what they mean for everyday life, and learn which steps and questions help you have a focused conversation with your doctor.
Melanoma future or investigational therapies
Introduction
Future Techniques
Future Techniques
- Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT)
In addition to identifying high-risk patients, researchers also want to identify high-risk lesions within a given patient. Many new technologies, such as optical coherence tomography (OCT), are being developed to accomplish this. OCT allows pathologists to view 3-D reconstructions of the skin and offers more resolution than past techniques could provide. In vivo confocal microscopy and fluorescently tagged antibodies are also proving to be valuable diagnostic tools.
- Tumor-informed circulating DNA (ctDNA) Assay
Small cohort studies demonstrate that ctDNA positivity may predict relapse, detected either on imaging (radiographic) or by symptoms and exam (clinical). [1]. Ongoing studies are evaluating whether ctDNA can detect early relapse in resected melanoma, identifying molecular recurrence (tumor DNA in blood before clinical or radiographic evidence) to guide earlier treatment. [3]
References
References
- ↑ Eroglu Z, Krinshpun S, Kalashnikova E, Sudhaman S, Ozturk Topcu T, Nichols M, Martin J, Bui KM, Palsuledesai CC, Malhotra M, Olshan P, Markowitz J, Khushalani NI, Tarhini AA, Messina JL, Aleshin A (June 2023). “Circulating tumor DNA-based molecular residual disease detection for treatment monitoring in advanced melanoma patients”. Cancer. 129 (11): 1723–1734. doi:10.1002/cncr.34716. PMID 36869646 Check
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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1] Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Anum Ijaz M.B.B.S., M.D.[2]