Melanoma Center

The Melanoma and Skin Oncology Center, at Washington Cancer Institute at Washington Hospital Center, is the region’s first and only center dedicated to the screening, detection and treatment of melanoma in early and advanced stages.  The area’s top-ranked cutaneous oncology specialists (doctors who treat cancer of the skin) also provide clinical expertise in cutaneous lymphoma (also known as CTCL or Mycosis fungoides), and rare types of skin cancers, including Merkel cell carcinoma, cancer of sweat glands and others.   Learn more about Our Team.

About melanoma and moles
Melanoma is a potentially life-threatening form of skin cancer, which grows from cells in the skin that make pigmentation or color. When these pigment cells grow, they can form a non-cancerous growth called a nevus or mole. It is believed that 30-50 percent of melanoma can evolve from a long-standing mole.

The remainder of melanoma appears as a new mole on the skin. According to the American Cancer Society, the incidence of melanoma has increased about four percent a year, and is the sixth most common cancer in the United States.  Learn more about Risks, Prevention and Screening.

Early detection of melanoma
If you are Caucasian, your probability of developing melanoma over your lifetime is one in 75. However, finding melanoma in its earliest stages usually means it can be cured.

Patients diagnosed with later stages of melanoma have a worse prognosis. Fortunately, the majority of people diagnosed with melanoma skin cancer have a good prognosis, because the cancer has not spread from the skin to other areas.  Learn more about Diagnosis.

Screening for specialized patients
Our physicians also provide screening for populations at high-risk for developing skin cancer, including organ transplant patients, patients on immunosuppressive medications, patients with immune deficiency and patients with a history of other cancers.

Our services
The Melanoma Center offers:

• Melanoma detection and screening.
• Documentation and examination of moles and patients with atypical mole syndrome.  Patients with atypical mole syndrome are at very high lifetime risk of melanoma.
• Patient education, including risks and prevention.
• Treatment options, including surgery, radiation and chemotherapy as well as experimental trials when available.
• Second opinions

Suraj S. Venna, MD, examines the results of a dermatoscope, a specialized device used to evaluate moles. In the background, Gary L. Peck, MD, examines the patient’s skin using the device.

Referring physicians
If you are a referring physician, we look forward to working with you and your patient.  Please see our
For Referring Physicians page for further information.

If you would like to make an appointment, click here or call 202-877-DOCS (3627). We can arrange your appointment on the phone or online.

 

 

Melanoma & Skin Oncology Center
Contact Information

Phone:	202-877-2551
Fax:	202-877-8113