What is the life expectancy for a patient with stage 3 or 4 melanoma?

Variable: There are several things that help estimate: - how long ago was the initial melanoma diagnosed? - how extensive are the lymph node and the distant metastases? - is the melanoma in areas that can be treated surgically? - are you healthy enough to get chemotherapy some patients have a rapid decline, but others every 3-4 years have a new melanoma metastasis show up & are otherwise healthy.

Depends: This also depends on overall health. But here are the average of 5 year overall survival. Stage 3a - between 57 to 73% will live for more than 5 years. Stage 3b between 41 to 57% will live for more than 5 years. Stage 3c - between 20 to 34% will live for more than 5 years. Stage 4 - between 5 to 22% with stage 4 melanoma will live for more than 5 years.

Depends: For stage 3 melanoma survival depends on number of lymph nodes involved, size of lymph node metastases, and tumor ulceration. This survival ranges from about 25-75% at 5 years. For stage 4 melanoma survival depends on number and location of organs involved as well as ldh blood level. It also depends on patient response to newer drugs, but can range from about a year to several years or longer.