McCain Diagnosed With Skin Cancer

Aug. 16 -- Arizona senator and former presidential candidate John McCain has been diagnosed with a recurrence of skin cancer and expects to undergo surgery.

The cancer, melanoma, is the most dangerous form of skin cancer and was detected on his left arm and left temple. McCain had a melanoma mole removed from his shoulder in 1993. Doctors speaking to ABCNEWS.com, who were unfamiliar with the specifics McCain’s most recent medical results, said his prognosis depends on whether the melanoma is new, how deep it is and how far it has spread.

“The odds are these are superficial lesions or very thin melanomas,” says Dr. David Polsky, associate director of the pigmented lesion clinic at New York University Medical Center, in Manhattan.“If there is no evidence that melanoma has invaded [more deeply], surgery is considered to be virtually curative.”

Doctors in such cases recommend removal of entire skin area surrounding the malignancy.

More Serious, If …

If, however, the melanoma is new and has spread deep, or is a recurrence of the original melanoma that has spread inside his body, the prognosis for McCain, 63, is not as good. Treatment for this scenario would include taking a biopsy of the lymph nodes to see if the cancer had spread to the nodes, immunotherapy, radiation and chemotherapy. “If the melanomas have metastasized [or spread] he’s going to be talking to oncologists pretty quickly and having surgery in the next week,” says Dr. Richard Glogau, clinical professor of dermatology at University of California in San Francisco.

In 2000, 47,700 people will be diagnosed with melanoma and 7,700 will die, according the American Cancer Society. Three Republican officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, saidMcCain planned a news conference Friday to discuss his medicalcondition. They said he would see his doctors on Friday to discusstreatment options.

His busy campaign schedule on behalf of congressional candidateshas been postponed for several days, perhaps into September,officials said.