Your Treatment Team

Your treatment team will include a dermatologist (a skin specialist), a surgeon, an oncologist (a cancer specialist), and possibly other professionals such as a pathologist, radiation oncologist, plastic surgeon, social worker, or nurse counselor.

A dermatologist is the first type of doctor you'll see if your primary care doctor thinks a mole on your skin looks suspicious. The dermatologist will usually do the initial excisional biopsy and send the sample out to a lab, where a pathologist will look at the sample under a microscope.

The pathologist sends back a report to the dermatologist. If the mole turns out to be melanoma, the dermatologist will refer you to a surgeon and an oncologist for further treatment.

The surgeon removes the entire tumor (if it has not been removed already during diagnosis) and performs a sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy to see if there are cancer cells in nearby lymph nodes. If the cancer has spread, the surgeon will remove the affected lymph nodes. If a large area of skin is affected, a skin graft or plastic surgery may be needed. Depending on the extent of your melanoma, you may need the services of a plastic surgeon.

Treatment after surgery will be decided by the oncologist (a cancer specialist).

If the oncologist determines that your melanoma has a high risk of coming back, he or she may begin immunotherapy. The standard treatment for melanoma that has a high risk of coming back ("recurrence") is INTRON® A (Interferon alfa-2b, recombinant) for Injection. If you do begin treatment with INTRON® A, a nurse counselor may help you manage the side effects of therapy.

If radiation treatment is needed, it will be given by a radiation oncologist, a cancer doctor who specializes in treating cancerous tumors using high energy x-rays.

The oncologist may also recommend chemotherapy, which may be given in the hospital, the doctor's office, or at home—depending on what medicines are used.

You will have regular follow-up visits with the oncologist and the dermatologist.

Living with melanoma can be a challenge so you may also want to arrange for counseling from a professional (such as a psychologist or social worker). Cancer support groups are also available to help you and your family members.

The members of your health care team will help you manage your treatment every step of the way.

INTRON® A (Interferon alfa-2b, recombinant) for Injection is indicated as adjuvant to surgical treatment in patients 18 years of age or older with malignant melanoma who are free of disease but at high risk for systemic recurrence, within 56 days of surgery.

Full Prescribing Information

Important Safety Information

WARNING
Alpha interferons, including INTRON® A, cause or aggravate fatal or life-threatening neuropsychiatric, autoimmune, ischemic, and infectious disorders. Patients should be monitored closely with periodic clinical and laboratory evaluations. Patients with persistently severe or worsening signs or symptoms of these conditions should be withdrawn from therapy. In many but not all cases these disorders resolve after stopping INTRON® A therapy.

All patients receiving INTRON® A therapy experienced mild-to-moderate side effects. Some patients experienced more severe side effects, including neutropenia, fatigue, myalgia, headache, fever, chills, and increased SGOT. Other frequently occurring side effects were nausea, vomiting, depression, alopecia, diarrhea, and thrombocytopenia.

DEPRESSION AND SUICIDAL BEHAVIOR, INCLUDING SUICIDAL IDEATION, SUICIDAL ATTEMPTS, AND COMPLETED SUICIDES, AND AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR, SOMETIMES DIRECTED TOWARDS OTHERS, HAVE BEEN REPORTED IN ASSOCIATION WITH ALPHA INTERFERONS, INCLUDING INTRON® A THERAPY. If patients develop psychiatric problems, including clinical depression, it is recommended that the patients be carefully monitored during treatment and in the 6-month follow-up period. Patients with a preexisting psychiatric condition, especially depression, or a history of severe psychiatric disorder should not be treated with INTRON® A. If psychiatric symptoms persist or worsen, or suicidal ideation or aggressive behavior towards others is identified, it is recommended that treatment with INTRON® A be discontinued, and the patient followed with psychiatric intervention as appropriate. Cases of encephalopathy have also been observed in some patients, usually elderly, treated with higher doses of INTRON® A.

INTRON® A is contraindicated in patients with: hypersensitivity to interferon alpha or any component of the product, autoimmune hepatitis, or decompensated liver disease.

You are encouraged to report negative side effects of prescription drugs to the FDA. Visit www.fda.gov/medwatch or call 1-800-FDA-1088.

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