A trial looking at how much tissue to remove during surgery for melanoma skin cancer (MelMarT-II)

The following bullet points are a summary of the entry conditions for this trial. Talk to your doctor or the trial team if you are unsure about any of these. They will be able to advise you. 

Who can take part

You may be able to join this trial if all of the following apply.

• You have melanoma skin cancer that is only in the skin and there is no sign that it has spread to the lymph nodes  or other parts of the body (stage 2 melanoma).
• You have a melanoma that is more than 2mm thick and the outer layer of the skin isn’t broken (ulcerated) or the melanoma is more than 1mm thick and is ulcerated.
• It is possible to remove a further 2cm margin around the melanoma biopsy scar. 
• Your surgical team is able to do the wide local excision and sentinel lymph node biopsy within 120 days of your original melanoma diagnosis. You may need to discuss this further with your surgical team.
• You are fit and active but might not be able to carry out heavy physical work (performance status of 0 or 1).
• You are at least 18 years old.

Who can’t take part

Cancer related
You cannot join this trial if:

• you have cancer cells in the tissues around the melanoma, in the lymph nodes or it has spread to another part of the body
• your doctor can’t be sure you have melanoma
• you have already had a wide local excision to remove the melanoma 
• you can’t have a sentinel lymph node biopsy to see how far the cancer has spread
• you have a rare type of melanoma called desmoplastic or neurotropic melanoma or you have a type of melanoma that starts in the skin under a nail (subungual melanoma). Your doctor will know this.  
• you have melanoma but it isn’t possible to work out the margins for any reason. Your doctor will know this. 
• you have had melanoma in the past or you have another melanoma somewhere else on the body
• you have melanoma that started between the knuckles and fingertips, on the tip of the nose, on the eyelids, in the mucosal membranes  or in the organs inside the body
• you have had surgery in the past for another reason to remove the lymph nodes or you have had a sentinel node biopsy in the past 
• you are going to have radiotherapy to where the melanoma started after having the wide local excision
• you have had another cancer that has got worse or needed treatment in the past 5 years unless it has a low chance of coming back. You can join if it was successfully treated non melanoma skin cancer,  cervical cancer or cancer of the womb.

Medical and other conditions 
You cannot join this trial if any of these apply. You:

• have had an organ transplant  in the past
• have had treatment that damps down the immune system . This includes steroids  unless it was a low dose.

You might be able to take part if you are pregnant. This depends on when you can have your surgery. You can talk to the surgical team about this if it applies to you.