1300 856 695
+44 203 514 0688
1800 867 1390If you would like to submit a blog post for consideration, please email admin@healthcert.com
[2 min read] Two melanoma treatments added to the PBS
Two treatments for advanced melanoma have had their PBS listings adjusted to include more patients.
Opdivo (nivolumab) and the combination treatment Yervoy are now available in subsidised form to patients earlier in their treatment pathway.
These changes reflect new evidence on the effectiveness of these therapies and the value that they bring to patients with invasive melanoma. Yervoy can now be used in first-line treatment of metastatic melanoma.
As GPs, this makes the early detection of melanoma especially important. It is essential that we all understand the need to take seriously any suspicious lesion on the skin and to promptly perform an appropriate biopsy (typically excision biopsy with 2mm margins of a suspicious pigmented lesion).
If the diagnosis of invasive melanoma is confirmed, I recommend a phone call to the local melanoma unit to discuss the results, and determine whether the unit wants the patient referred for further assessment and treatment.
Professor David Wilkinson
Learn more with HealthCert Certificate Courses in Skin Cancer:
More information on the recent listing is found here.
1300 856 695
+44 203 514 0688
1800 867 1390
Valuable advice.
Also I am very uncertain of the wisdom of a shave in a pigmented lesion, and do not do it.