What should you know about in-transit metastasis melanoma?

The deposits may appear as one or more firm, dark, red, or skin-coloured lumps in the skin or tissue along the route from the original melanoma toward a lymph-node basin. They can be close to the original site or farther along the limb or body region. This is a form of regional spread, but the exact stage depends on examination and imaging findings.

A specialist may inspect the skin and lymph nodes, review the original biopsy, and use imaging or additional sampling when needed. A sentinel lymph node biopsy can provide information about nearby lymphatic drainage, although it is not the only assessment used.

Arrange prompt review with the team managing your melanoma if a new lump, cluster of nodules, colour change, bleeding, or persistent tenderness appears near the original site. Do not squeeze, cut, or repeatedly traumatise a suspicious lesion. Take clear photographs with dates and note growth, pain, discharge, or changes in nearby nodes.

Treatment is individualised. Options can include removal of suitable deposits, surgery for a wider area, medicines that stimulate an immune response, or other approaches selected after staging. Follow-up after cancer treatment helps the clinical team look for changes and respond early.

Contact your cancer team promptly for a rapidly enlarging or bleeding nodule, spreading redness, marked pain, new swelling of a limb, or a wound that does not heal. Seek urgent medical help for severe breathlessness, new confusion, weakness, or a seizure, because these symptoms need immediate assessment and may have causes unrelated to melanoma.

Ask which tests are needed to map the spread, whether lymph nodes or other areas require assessment, which treatment goal applies to your situation, and how often your skin and lymph nodes should be checked. Ask what changes should trigger a same-day call and who to contact outside clinic hours.