What organ system does melanoma affect?

Melanoma can spread to parts of your body far away from where the cancer started. This is called advanced, metastatic, or stage IV melanoma. It can move to your lungs, liver, brain, bones, digestive system, and lymph nodes. Most people find their skin cancer early, before it has spread.

Does melanoma affect the nervous system?

Malignant melanoma represents the third most common cause for cerebral metastases after breast and lung cancer. Central nervous system (CNS) metastases occur in 10 to 40% of patients with melanoma. Most of the symptoms of CNS melanoma metastases are unspecific and depend on localization of the lesion.

Does melanoma affect digestive system?

Melanoma lesions of the GI tract are often asymptomatic but can result in a spectrum of symptoms including abdominal pain, dyspepsia, weight loss, nausea, vomiting, obstruction, perforation, acute gastrointestinal bleeding, and chronic iron-deficiency anaemia [15].

How does melanoma affect the skeletal system?

This is called melanoma bone metastasis or bone mets. The first symptom of bone mets is often bone pain. Other symptoms include bone fractures, and elevated blood levels of calcium as the cancerous tumors in the bone break the bone down which releases calcium into the bloodstream.

What organs does melanoma spread to first?

Normally, the first place a melanoma tumor metastasizes to is the lymph nodes, by literally draining melanoma cells into the lymphatic fluid, which carries the melanoma cells through the lymphatic channels to the nearest lymph node basin.

Melanoma risk to organs

What part of the body is most affected by melanoma?

They most often develop in areas that have had exposure to the sun, such as your back, legs, arms and face. Melanomas can also occur in areas that don't receive much sun exposure, such as the soles of your feet, palms of your hands and fingernail beds. These hidden melanomas are more common in people with darker skin.

How fast does melanoma spread to organs?

How fast does melanoma spread and grow to local lymph nodes and other organs? “Melanoma can grow extremely quickly and can become life-threatening in as little as six weeks,” noted Dr. Duncanson.

How does melanoma affect the brain?

Tumor cells with an affinity for the brain

Studies estimate that between 40% to 75% of people whose melanoma spreads will end up with one or more brain metastases. The symptoms of these tumors—which can include seizures, vision and hearing problems, and difficulty thinking and remembering—can be devastating.

Does melanoma cause organ failure?

Malignant melanoma is a common malignancy that has the potential to metastasize to any site including the liver [1]. However, liver metastases secondary to melanoma rarely result in fulminant hepatic failure [2-5] and do not typically cause significant systemic disease.

How does melanoma affect the cardiovascular system?

Melanoma is a highly aggressive disease with the risk of developing metastasis to virtually all organs including the heart, which can manifest as arrhythmia, right ventricular obstruction, heart failure, or pericardial effusion.

How does your body feel when you have melanoma?

Itchiness, tenderness or pain. Changes in texture, or scales, oozing or bleeding from an existing mole. Blurry vision or partial loss of sight, or dark spots in the iris.

Can melanoma spread to other parts of your body?

Melanoma cells can spread from the primary tumor through the bloodstream and lymphatic system to form new tumors. Melanoma, the most aggressive form of skin cancer, is often incurable once the cancer has spread from the original site of the tumor to distant organs and tissues.

What deficiency causes melanoma?

Vitamin D deficiency (≤20 ng/mL) is associated with an increased incidence and worse prognosis of various types of cancer including melanoma.

Can melanoma spread to lungs and brain?

Once in the blood or lymph (fluid that drains into the bloodstream), the melanoma cells often travel to the lungs, liver, spleen, or brain.

Can melanoma affect the kidneys?

Patients with melanoma (MM) have an increased risk of kidney cancer, and there is an excess risk of MM among patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC).

Can melanoma affect the liver?

Melanoma usually spreads through the body's blood vessels to the liver. Liver metastases are sometimes present when the original (primary) cancer is diagnosed, or it may occur months or years after the primary tumor is removed. After the lymph nodes, the liver is the most common site of metastatic spread.

Can melanoma cause liver damage?

Liver metastases are diagnosed in 10-20% of patients with melanoma, but significant hepatic dysfunction is uncommon [4]. Only few cases of spontaneous hepatic rupture, severe hepatitis, and acute liver failure due to malignant melanoma infiltration have been reported.

Why is melanoma the most serious?

Melanoma is much less common than some other types of skin cancers. But melanoma is more dangerous because it's much more likely to spread to other parts of the body if not caught and treated early.

Can melanoma cause mental illness?

Anxiety is very frequent, and it can be detected in almost all patients with melanoma. It is a feeling of apprehension caused by anticipation of an ill-defined threat or danger that is not based. Components of anxiety are emotional, cognitive anticipation (memory), behavioural and somatic.

Can melanoma affect your memory?

More than 22% of melanoma patients harbor neuronal autoantibodies that were associated with a significantly increased risk for cognitive impairment affecting memory, attention, and executive function as well as reduced physical health.

What foods help fight melanoma?

Antioxidants, such as retinol, are important for a healthy immune system. Studies have found that higher intake of retinol-rich foods, such as fish, milk, eggs, dark green leafy vegetables, and orange/yellow fruits and vegetables led to a 20 percent reduced risk of developing melanoma.

What are the warning signs of melanoma?

Spread of pigment from the border of a spot into surrounding skin. Redness or a new swelling beyond the border of the mole. Change in sensation, such as itchiness, tenderness, or pain. Change in the surface of a mole – scaliness, oozing, bleeding, or the appearance of a lump or bump.

Can you feel if melanoma has spread?

Melanoma can cause pain in the bones where it's spread, and some people—those with very little body fat covering their bones—may be able to feel a lump or mass. Metastatic melanoma can also weaken the bones, making them fracture or break very easily. This is most common in the arms, legs, and spine.

What vitamins help fight melanoma?

Some studies report that normal levels of vitamin D ₃ at the time of diagnosis are associated with a better prognosis in patients with melanoma. High circulating vitamin D concentration has been found to be associated with reduced melanoma progression and improved survival.

What makes melanoma grow faster?

Skin cancer can grow when the cells that make up your skin are damaged, causing them to grow abnormally. Every additional decade of overexposure to UV further increases your risk of skin cancer. Increased use of sun protection will help prevent skin cancer and melanoma at any age.