Surgery
Surgery is the most appropriate treatment for local melanomas. If the melanoma is on the nail bed, it may be necessary to amputate the entire toe due to bone damage.
Footpad melanoma can lead to full limb amputation, as full weight may be resting on the affected footpad and removal of the footpad will result in a loss of use of that leg.
Radiotherapy
Radiotherapy is an efficient alternative for tumors that cannot be (completely) surgically removed. Melanomas generally respond well to radiotherapy administered in high doses (1x / week, four times).
A possible side effect of this treatment is loss of nails or sloughing of the sole of the foot. The nails and soles of the feet will regrow and will not cause long-term problems.
Chemotherapy
Carboplatin chemotherapy may be useful to delay or prevent the spread of metastases. However, there are no published studies yet that show that chemotherapy leads to an extended survival time.
The standard chemotherapy protocol is a combination of carboplatin with surgery and / or radiotherapy. Carboplatin is administered intravenously every 3 weeks for a total of 4 treatments. The side effects are minimal.