Now it becomes usual that the doctor employ unique combinations of various handheld devices such as dermoscopy, dermatoscopy, or epiluminescence microscopy; through this combination the diagnosis becomes feasible. It is possible that a physician gets an idea of exact cause of Melanoma cancer and thereby find it easy to suggest the best treatment of Melanoma cancer.

Skin Biopsy

It is said that skin biopsy helps a lot in the exact diagnosis of cancer and through it a doctor is able to differentiate between cancerous and non-cancerous growth of cells.

Skin biopsy means the removal of skin tissue as a sample that is examined by a pathologist under microscope. There are different types of skin biopsy depending upon the penetration level of lesion in the skin.

• Shave Biopsy:
• This biopsy is used to get a sample from the upper level of skin with the help of a thin surgical blade or scalpel. It is helpful in the diagnosis of basal cell cancer.
• Punch Biopsy:
• It is employed when the lesion penetrates deep into the skin. The doctor removes the skin sample through a round, cookie-cutter-like tool.
• Incisional and excisional Biopsies:
• These biopsies are used when the tumor penetrates more deeply into the skin. In incisional biopsy, a part of tumor is removed while in excisional biopsy doctor removes the entire tumor.

Lymph Node Biopsy:

This biopsy is performed to check whether the cancer has spread to one or more lymph nodes or not.  This procedure is named as SLN Sentinel Lymph Nodes. This test is suggested for the cancers thicker than 1 millimeter.

In this procedure, the doctor injected either a radioactively labeled substance (radioisotope) or a blue dye into the tumor site. This substance moved to the sentinel node (first lymph node where any cancer spread) with the system of lymph. This node is removed and biopsied.

Based on the result of this biopsy, the doctors decide whether it is necessary to remove the lymph nodes or not.  When there are some signs of cancer are shown in the sentinel codes then the doctor remove the nearby lymph nodes otherwise not.

Other Tests used in Diagnosis of Melanoma cancer are:

Blood test:

It is employed to determine the areas where cancer has spread.  The high level of lactate dehydrogenase means the cancer has spread . Some blood test are also taken to check the liver function

Computed tomography (CT) scans ;

In this test , an x-ray machine is connected to a computer and then series of pictyres  of the chest, abdomen or pelvis are taken . this scan helps the doctor to identify whether the melanoma has spread at the time of diagnosis or to monitor it after treatment

Positron emission tomography (PET) :

This scanning process makes it possible for you to check whether the cancer has spread to other areas or not. With the help of such scan a patient may avoid unnecessary surgeries.

The presence of dysplastic moles on the body is also one of the causes of melanoma cancer. Though there may be many dysplastic moles on some people, they may not have any symptoms of melanoma cancer, but there are few, who are at a great risk because of the presence of the dysplastic moles on their body.

The color of the skin may also be one of the risk factors and people who have fair skin which has a risk of burning easily can be affected by melanoma cancer. This makes fair skin to be one of the causes of melanoma cancer. The reason for this could be because of the fact that when a person has skin that is fair, the sun damages the skin quicker than it damages the darker skin.

A person who has had melanoma skin cancer before could suffer from another bout of the disease and so the previous history of the disease could be one of the causes of melanoma cancer. Other than this, the family history where one of the close relatives has suffered from melanoma can also be one of the causes of melanoma cancer.

A person who is suffering from immune system that is weakened due to the presence of one of the other diseases can also be affected by melanoma cancer. There are certain disease like AIDS that is caused by the human immuno deficiency virus, which reduces the immunity of the body and so can be one of the causes of melanoma cancer. There are also certain other situations like the transplantation of an organ that can compromise the immune system that can be one of the major causes of melanoma cancer.

Though there are many causes of melanoma cancer, the rays of the Sun can cause the major part of the damage. The reason for this to occur is the ultra violet rays that are emitted from the Sun. The rays damage the skin and can be the most important one of the causes of melanoma cancer.

There are two usual forms of Melanoma cancer depends upon the area where abnormal melonocytes cells grow and produce.  In first form of cancer; the skin tumor is not hazardous if it growth pattern is limited to a few layers of skin, in this case it is considered as benign Melanoma. But in second form of cancer; the tumors are start prevailing in other tissues and organs so it is considered as malignant or cancerous. The condition of patient, who is suffering from malignant Melanoma cancer, may become serious day by day as the cancerous cells increase in number and thus surround different tissues and organs along with skin; after sometime condition of melanoma cancer victim become so critical that no treatment is fruitful.

Melanoma cancer is among that forms of skin cancer which are regarded as metastasize. The word Metastasize means the abnormal cancerous cells will grow and reproduce and then spread to other parts of body not only in skin cells. According to dermatologist, in case when the Melanoma cancerous cells are invaded in vital organ such as brain, liver, kidney etc may lead to death of cancer patient. The survey report shows that the cure rate of Melanoma cancer is great in comparison with some other types of skin benign tumors. But there is an immense need to diagnose melanoma cancer’s exact condition and stage so that it becomes possible to give the cancer patient an accurate treatment.