Infliximab (Remicide) melanoma

So sorry to hear what you are going through. IBD is enough to deal with on its own!

I am not on any of these meds, but I found a study on prevalence rates in IBD patients who are taking biologics or immunosuppresants. Absolute risk looks very low for melanoma and higher for CD vs. UC: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4065572/?report=reader

Taken from article: "In summary, we found that increased risk of melanoma in patients with IBD is driven by use of anti-TNF biologics, whereas increased risk of NMSC is driven by use of thiopurines. Although we found an association between biologic anti-TNF use and melanoma, the absolute risk of melanoma in patients with IBD remains quite low at 57/100,000 person-years. By comparison, the absolute risk of NMSC was much greater at 912/100,000 person-years."

Post Edited (Jane974) : 11/10/2020 6:51:02 PM (GMT-7)

It seems very unlikely that it was related to the use of the biologic.

Imuran (azathioprine) is much more associated with possible skin cancer.

I don't think you should even consider stopping your remicade.

All the best.

(I had a bowens disease spot removed, after over ten years on both biologics and imuran. They said it was possible the imuran was partly responsible but unlikely it was the biologic.)

Infliximab has changed my life to. Nearly a year remission since I been on it. Haven’t had this long term remission in a very long time, so I know for a fact it’s the Biologics. I haven’t had any side affects either. A complete game changer for me.