Jimmy Carter and Melanoma

Jimmy Carter (born in 1924; democratic party) served as 39th President of the United States from 1977 to 1981.

-He underwent a PET scan in May (age 90) after feeling unwell, and a suspicious mass in the liver was revealed.

-After undergoing surgery on August 3, 2015 to remove the mass in the liver, the pathology report came out with a histological diagnosis of melanoma (it originates from the skin in 98% of cases, in rare instance it can originate from  mouth, intestines, or eye)
-An MRI done the same afternoon revealed 4 small suspicious masses in the Brain

-The presence of this skin cancer initially detected in the brain and liver means that is was already stage IV.

-Given the high probability of melanomas originating from the skin, the most likely scenario* is that the primary skin lesion was removed surgically (either as a skin melanoma without histological confirmation) or by a destructive treatment (of a lesion considered to be benign)

Treatments
–Radiation therapy in the Brain (stereotactic radiotherapy)
-At the time of writing of this article, he is undergoing a trial with a new drug called pembrolizumab (a PD-1 inhibitor)

*according to this article no primary melanoma was found on the skin and the doctors are still looking for it

Bibliography: Press conference 20.08.2015; Images: Wikipedia