U S News & World Report What Are the Survival Rates for Skin Cancer Skip to main content Close Select your preferred language English عربى 简体中文 繁體中文 فارسي עִברִית 日本語 한국어 Русский Español Tagalog Menu Close Call 1-800-CEDARS-1 toggle search form Close Los Angeles, 13 March 2019 10:44 AM America/Los_Angeles U S News & World Report What Are the Survival Rates for Skin Cancer Malignant melanoma as seen in high-power magnification. Photo by Getty. U.S. News and World Report recently interviewed Mark Faries, MD, co-director of the melanoma program and head of surgical oncology at The Angeles Clinic and Research Institute, an affiliate of Cedars-Sinai, about recent treatment advances, including immunotherapy, in skin cancer. According to the article, over the past several decades, skin cancer has become one of the more survivable forms of cancer. That's good news, given that skin cancer is the most common type of cancer diagnosed in the U.S. and incidence rates are on the rise. There are several different classifications of skin cancer. Basal cell carcinomas are often curable with a simple surgical excision, usually performed in a physician's office. Squamous cell carcinomas, which account for 20 percent of skin cancer diagnosed in the U.S., has the potential to spread to other organs, but it's usually caught before that stage. However, melanoma is a much more deadly form of skin cancer that forms in the cells that produce skin pigment, called melanin. Melanin acts as a protective layer that blocks damage from UV rays in sunlight. Faries has done extensive research into using sentinel node biopsy – a procedure often associated with breast cancer that determines which lymph node is most likely to be the first one to receive cancerous cells from a tumor if they start to spread – to help pinpoint which patients are more likely to have a recurrence in melanoma. In a sentinel node biopsy, only one to three of the nearest lymph nodes are excised and checked for cancer. This enables some patients to have less surgery and enjoy a better quality of life with no impact to their anticipated survival. More extensive surgery has not proven to lead to longer survival, Faries told U.S. News & World Report. "It's a balance between the cost, the toxicity and the complications that are a risk with any other intervention versus what benefits do you get from them," Faries said. Click here to read the complete article on the U.S. News & World Report website. Read more on the Cedars-Sinai Blog: Lifestyle and Cancer: Understanding the Connection. Related Stories RSS feed - Related Stories (opens in new window) View all headlines - Related Stories Cancer Patient Sails Again September 19, 2022 06:00 AM America/Los_Angeles Jeannea Jordan, who turns 80 in October, is a local sailing pioneer who began racing and cruising her 30-foot sailboat 25 years ago when few women were part of the sport. When a tumor on her spine ran her aground last year and her oncologist at … Read more Study Active Surveillance an Effective Option for Thyroid Cancer September 15, 2022 08:01 AM America/Los_Angeles A novel clinical trial from Cedars-Sinai Cancer shows that active surveillance is an effective treatment for many low-risk thyroid cancer patients. The study, published in JAMA Oncology, also showed for the first time that patients who opted for … Read more Study Patients Prefer Stool Test to Colonoscopy September 12, 2022 10:00 AM America/Los_Angeles Three-quarters of people prefer to do a fecal immunochemical test (FIT) rather than a colonoscopy for their regular colorectal cancer screening, according to a new Cedars-Sinai study.Unlike colonoscopies, FIT doesn’t require lengthy preparation, … Read more Show previous items Show next items Contact the Media Team Email: [email protected] Contact Share this release U S News & World Report What Are the Survival Rates for Skin Cancer Share on: Twitter Share on: Facebook Share on: LinkedIn Search Our Newsroom Social media Visit our Facebook page (opens in new window) Follow us on Twitter (opens in new window) Visit our Youtube profile (opens in new window) (opens in new window) Latest news 07 Oct 2022 - HealthDay: Black Women Less Likely to Get Laparoscopic Fibroid Surgeries 07 Oct 2022 - Faculty Publications: Sept. 29-Oct. 6 07 Oct 2022 - Fine-Tuning Organ-Chip Technology 06 Oct 2022 - KCRW: Want New Omicron Booster? Wait at Least 2 Months After Last Shot 05 Oct 2022 - Cedars-Sinai Schedules Free Flu Vaccine Clinics 04 Oct 2022 - Cedars-Sinai Showcases Hispanic and Latinx Art Newsroom Home