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CME: Melanoma: Best Practices, Barriers to Care, and Emerging Therapies

ACCREDITATION EXPIRED: June 21, 2016

Activity Description / Statement of Need:

In this online CME self-learning program:

 

Melanoma is a tumor of the melanocytes whose tissue of origin is primarily the skin, although it may also develop occasionally in the: gastrointestinal, genitourinary, or respiratory tracts; ocular or mucosal tissue; or meninges.  It is subcategorized into superficial spreading melanoma (70% of cases), nodular melanoma (15-30%), lentigo maligna melanoma (10%-20%), and acral lentiginous melanoma (5%).  Risk factors include a positive personal or family history of melanoma, genetic predisposition, and exposure to ultraviolet light.  Diagnosis is made by excisional, incisional, or punch skin biopsy while imaging or indirect ophthalmoscopy may be employed to diagnose uveal or choroidal melanoma. 


Treatment options for metastatic melanoma have expanded in recent years with the approval of novel therapies, including a BRAF inhibitor and a cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated antigen-4 inhibitor, for the treatment of malignant melanoma, providing more targeted therapeutic modalities than previous forms of immunotherapy and conventional, cytotoxic chemotherapy. Other emerging, molecularly targeted forms of therapy are active areas of research.

 

Agenda:

Introduction, Disclosures

Updates in the epidemiology, diagnosis, and prevention of malignant melanoma

  • Untreated malignant melanoma
  • Societal costs of malignant melanoma
  • Barriers to diagnosis and prevention
  • Brief review of preventive guidelines
  • Comorbid conditions impacting the direction of care
  • Patient case(s)

Review of loco-regional disease and treatment modalities

Treatment of malignant melanoma

Updates in goals of therapy

  • Strategies for modifying risk factors
  • Non-pharmacologic therapy
  • Prevention methods up to date aggressively
  • Patient case(s)

Barriers to optimal care in patients with malignant melanoma [Learning Objective #4]

  • Healthcare disparities
  • Functional barriers to care
  • Strategies promoting adherence to therapy
  • Eligibility for clinical trials
  • Patient case(s)

Summary, conclusions, and best practice recap

Target Audience:

 

Healthcare professionals specializing in: oncology, dermatology, family medicine, internal medicine, or those who otherwise commonly care for patients with malignant melanoma.

Commercial Support Disclosure: This program is supported by educational grants from Genentech and Amgen.

Release Date: February 21, 2014 -- Expiration Date: June 21, 2016

Faculty: Sanjiv Agarwala, MD

Agenda

Learning Objectives

By the end of the session the participant will be able to:

  • 1. Describe challenges to effective diagnosis and prevention of malignant melanoma.
  • 2. Identify present and emerging treatment strategies for melanoma, weighing their risk-benefit profiles in the setting of patient cases.
  • 3. Recognize the appropriate therapeutic choices in individual patients with based on their demographic and clinical characteristics, applying them to patient cases.
  • 4. Discuss emerging therapies and their potential place(s) in therapy in melanoma.
  • 5. Describe barriers to care in the treatment of melanoma and develop strategies to ameliorate them.

Accreditation

ACCREDITATION FOR THIS COURSE HAS EXPIRED. YOU MAY VIEW THE PROGRAM, BUT CME / CE IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE AND NO CERTIFICATE WILL BE ISSUED.


Faculty Disclosure and Resolution of COI

 As a provider of continuing medical education, it is the policy of ScientiaCME to ensure balance, independence, objectivity, and scientific rigor in all of its educational activities. In accordance with this policy, faculty and educational planners must disclose any significant relationships with commercial interests whose products or devices may be mentioned in faculty presentations, and any relationships with the commercial supporter of the activity. The intent of this disclosure is to provide the intended audience with information on which they can make their own judgments. Additionally, in the event a conflict of interest (COI) does exist, it is the policy of ScientiaCME to ensure that the COI is resolved in order to ensure the integrity of the CME activity. For this CME activity, any COI has been resolved thru content review ScientiaCME.

 

Faculty Disclosure: Sanjiv Agarwala, MD has no relevent financial discloses..

 

Disclosures of Educational Planners: Charles Turck, PharmD is an officer and part owner of ScientiaCME, LLC.

 

Commercial Support Disclosure: This program is supported by educational grants from Genentech and Amgen.

Instructions

  • Read the learning objectives above
  • Take the Pre-Test (optional). Completion of the pre-test will help us evaluate the knowledge gained by participating in this CME activity.
  • View the online activity. You may view this is in more than one session, and may pause or repeat any portion of the presentation if you need to.
  • Minimum participation threshold: Take the post-test. A score of 70% or higher is required to pass and proceed to the activity evaluation.
  • Complete the activity evaluation and CME registration. A CE certificate will be emailed to you immediately.

Cultural/Linguistic Competence & Health Disparities

System Requirements

PC
Windows 7 or above
Internet Explorer 8
*Adobe Acrobat Reader
MAC
Mac OS 10.2.8
Safari or Chrome or Firefox
*Adobe Acrobat Reader
Internet Explorer is not supported on the Macintosh

*Required to view Printable PDF Version

Perform Pre-Test (optional)

Please take a few minutes to participate in the optional pre-test. It will help us measure the knowledge gained by participating in this activity.