Dr. Sondak on Personalizing the Treatment of Melanoma

Vernon K. Sondak, MD, chair of the Department of Cutaneous Oncology at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida, talks about personalized medicine in the treatment of patients with melanoma.

Sondak says physicians have embraced the idea of personalized medicine when treating patients with melanoma. Most treatment decisions are now individualized for almost every patient with melanoma along the disease spectrum.

Personalized medicine is especially important when treating patients with late-stage disease, Sondak believes. Moreover, personalized medicine in melanoma is more than just checking for gene mutations and administering targeted agents, particulalry since surgery and immunotherapy is often used before administering targeted therapies. As a result, many factors must be considered, in addition to mutation status, before making a personalized decision about what treatment to use for patients with advanced melanoma, Sondak believes.