Melanoma

The surgeons at 21 melanoma referral centers collaborated to see whether these revelations had created changes in treatment plans for high-risk melanoma. It can often take significant time — as long as a decade — for providers to adopt or deescalate cancer treatments, even if the available evidence supports a shift in the landscape.

Immunotherapy researchers have discovered how a subset of T cells known as memory T cells are generated in melanoma survivors with vitiligo and able to function for years after a tumor is gone.

Although it is rare, knowledge of this risk is important both for the ophthalmologists who treat it and for the oncologists prescribing the anti-cancer treatment, say Michigan Medicine researchers. The cases of three recent patients, published in JAMA Ophthalmology, highlight the issue. Patients receiving immune checkpoint inhibitors developed uveal effusions and eye inflammation that affected their vision.